Vietnam spent 502 million U.S. dollars importing milk and dairy products in the first half of this year, increasing 6.6 percent against the same period last year, its Ministry of Industry and Trade said on Tuesday.

Vietnam imported 868 million U.S. dollars worth of milk and dairy products last year, up 1.9 percent, mainly from New Zealand, Singapore, Germany, the United States, and Thailand.

Each Vietnamese person is expected to consume an average of over 28 liters of milk in 2020, up from 26 liters in 2017, according to the Vietnam Dairy Association.

Last year, Vietnam produced more than 1.333 billion liters of fresh milk, up 6.6 percent against 2016, and 127,400 tons of powder milk, up 10.4 percent, while its milk sector made turnovers of over 100 trillion Vietnamese dong (4.4 billion U.S. dollars), up 10.5 percent.