Hanoi, Dec 26 (IANS): Vietnam's exports of phones and accessories witnessed a sharp year-on-year increase of 69.2 percent in 2013, making the commodity first among the country's export items.

This is the first time exports of phone topped the list of Vietnam's key export items, with revenue of over $21.5 billion, Xinhua cited from Vietnam's General Statistics Office Wednesday.

Exports of phones and accessories accounted for one fifth of the country's total export turnover, and 50 percent of the trade sector's growth, said the office.

In 2009, the products ranked ninth among the country's top 10 export items behind garments, footwear, crude oil, seafood, electronics, computers and spare parts, wood and wood products, rice and rubber.

One year later, they climbed to the fourth place after garments, crude oil and footwear.

The sharp increase in phones and accessories export turnover was attributed to the contribution of Samsung plants in Vietnam, which made up 98 percent of Vietnam's mobile phone and accessories exports in 2012.

Exports of phone were followed by garments with $17.89 billion, and electronic products, computers and spare parts with $10.67 billion in revenue, said the office.

Vietnam spent $25.7 billion in 2013 for imports of equipment for production of phones, computers and other electronic products.