HANOI, July 5 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam spent roughly 1.9 billion U.S. dollars importing animal feeds and materials for animal feed production in the first half of this year, down 4.2 percent against the same period last year, according to the country's Ministry Agriculture and Rural Development on Friday.

Last month alone, Vietnam's imports of the products dropped by 23.7 percent against June 2018 to 280 million U.S. dollars. Its biggest suppliers included China, Cambodia, Malaysia and India.

From January to June, Vietnam also imported nearly 1.2 million tons of wheat worth 337 million U.S. dollars, witnessing respective year-on-year declines of 56.5 percent and 48.6 percent; and spent 326 million U.S. dollars importing animal and vegetable oil, down 8.3 percent.

Last year, Vietnam spent nearly 3.9 billion U.S. dollars importing animal feeds and materials for animal feed production, with the biggest import market being Argentina with turnovers of nearly 1.3 billion U.S. dollars, followed by the United States (681.5 million U.S. dollars), Brazil (472 million U.S. dollars) and China (225.6 million U.S. dollars), according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs.