BEIJING, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Bilateral trade between China and Vietnam hit 106.71 billion U.S. dollars in 2018, up 12.71 percent year on year, according to statistics released by General Department of Vietnam Customs.

In 2018, Vietnam imported 65.44 billion U.S. dollars worth of goods from China, up 11.7 percent year on year; while Vietnam's exports to China were 41.27 billion US dollars, an increase of 16.6 percent.

In terms of commodities, mechanical and electrical products, telephone and components and computer, electronic products and components were Vietnam's main import commodities from China with import value reaching 12.03 billion U.S. dollars, 8.58 billion U.S. dollars and 7.83 billion U.S. dollars respectively.

Telephone and components were major items of Vietnamese export, recording the highest exports in the value of 9.38 billion U.S. dollars, up 31.1 percent year on year.

The bilateral trade has maintained double-digit growth in recent years and is expected to continue rising in 2019 due to the close economic and trade ties between the two countries. (Edited by Wu Shuang, wushuang2018@xinhua.org)