The nation’s agro-forestry-fishery exports experienced a year-on-year rise of 5.6 per cent to nearly US$21 billion in the first eight months of this year, statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development have revealed.
Exports of farm produce fetched $9.9 billion in the period, up 6 per cent against the same period last year.
Among these products, coffee recorded the strongest growth in both export volume and value. Coffee exports earned $2.25 billion from 1.27 million tonnes, surging 40 per cent in quantity and 21 per cent in value, with Germany and the US being the two biggest importers.
Significant increases of 31 per cent in volume and 13 per cent in value were also seen in pepper exports. From January to August, 135,000 tonnes of pepper were shipped abroad, bringing home $1.1 billion.
Seafood exports topped $4.3 billion, representing a yearly rise of 4 per cent. China, the US and Thailand witnessed a remarkable surge of 54, 12 and 10 per cent, respectively, in their imports of Vietnamese seafood. Meanwhile, exports of some other products plunged in the period.
Rubber exports fell 5 per cent in value year-on-year, despite a 10 per cent increase in volume. A modest drop of 1 per cent was also recorded in the export value of tea.
The export value of wood and wood products in the first eight months reached $4.54 billion, a year-on-year fall of 1 per cent. The US, Japan and China were the three largest consumers, together holding approximately 53 per cent of the total export turnover.
The country exported 432,000 tonnes of rice worth $191 million in August, bringing total volume and value in the first eight months of this year to 3.37 million tonnes and $1.51 billion.
The figures represented decreases of 16.6 per cent in volume and 13.1 per cent in value compared with the same period last year.
China remained the biggest importer of Vietnam’s rice with 36 per cent of the market share. A total of 1.04 million tonnes worth $476 million were shipped to China between January-July, down 21.6 per cent in volume and 11.9 per cent in value year-on-year.
Indonesia followed with 353,000 tonnes and $140.4 million, up 25.5 per cent in volume and 26.8 per cent in value year-on-year.
Rice exports to traditional markets suffered drastic drops, including the Philippines (66.4 per cent), Malaysia (54.5 per cent) and Singapore (36.3 per cent).
However, the Philippines will open the bidding for 250,000 tonnes of rice on August 31 as part of its plan to import one million more tonnes of rice.
Vietnam will participate in the auction, according to the Vietnam Food Association.
Source: VNS