Vietnam sees January trade gap doubling to $1 billion

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam estimated January's trade deficit will nearly double from a year earlier to $1 billion following a 27 percent leap of imports to $5.5 billion, a state-run newspaper said on Monday.

Exports are estimated to reach $4.5 billion this month, a rise of 19.7 percent from a year earlier, the Vietnam News newspaper quoted General Statistic Office figures as showing.

Vietnam had a trade gap of $570 million last January and it more than doubled to $12.4 billion in 2007 as imports jumped 35.5 percent to a record $60.8 billon.

The Industry and Trade Ministry has forecast it would jump another 37 percent to $16.97 billion in 2008.

The value of Vietnam's crude oil exports would rise 46.5 percent to $826 million in January despite a 12.7 percent drop in value to 1.16 million tonnes, or 274,000 barrels per day, the Vietnam News said.

Textiles and garments were estimated to bring in $720 million, up 20.7 percent from the same month last year, while coffee revenues would drop 25.8 percent to $260 million, it said.

The government is expected to release full trade statistics later this week.

(Reporting by Ho Binh Minh; Editing by Michael Battye)