Agro-forestry-seafood exports continue soaring

The agro-forestry-seafood sector earned US$1.75 billion from exports in September, raising its total export turnover in the first nine months of the year to US$13.93 billion, a year-on-year increase of 22.3 percent.

Of the total, agricultural products brought home US$7.32 billion, up 21 percent and seafood, US$3.47 billion, up 14.2 percent.

Rice topped the list of agro-forestry products in terms of both export volume and value with 5.55 million tonnes worth US$2.56 billion in the nine-month period, representing respective increases of nearly 12 percent and over 14 percent. The prices of Vietnamese rice have come close to those of Thailand, the world’s largest rice exporter.

Several other agricultural products also recorded increases in both export volume and value, including coffee with 925,000 tonnes, earning over US$1.3 billion, up 4.2 percent in volume and nearly 1 percent in value. Germany was Vietnam’s largest coffee consumer with 13.5 percent of the country’s total export volume, followed by the US with 12.7 percent.

Rubber exports rose only 10.9 percent in volume but saw a double growth in value compared to the same period last year thanks to an 86-percent increase in price. In the first nine months, Vietnam shipped 531,000 tonnes of rubber, earning US$1.45 billion. China was Vietnam’s biggest rubber importer that accounted for over 57 percent of the country’s total export value.

The country’s tea export turnover reached US$146 million, up 16.7 percent year on year, while the export volume increased by only 4 percent to 100,000 tonnes. Pakistan was the largest importer of Vietnam’s tea products, followed by Taiwan and Russia.

Vietnam remained the number one cashew nut exporter in the world. In the reviewed period, the country exported 143,000 tonnes worth US$780 million, up 10 percent in volume and 30 percent in value. Vietnamese cashew nuts were shipped to 50 countries and territories worldwide with the US being the largest consumer, accounting for nearly 34 percent of the country’s total export value.

Pepper saw a decrease of 5.6 percent on volume but its export value was up over 30 percent over last year’s correspondent period.

Forest products and timber recorded a high export turnover of US$2.6 billion. However, the nine-month import turnover of timber material still reached US$827 million despite a year-on-year drop of up to 30.9 percent.

Seafood continued to affirm itself as the country’s strategic export item with US$3.5 billion in nine-month export turnover. Japan and the US were the two largest consumers of Vietnamese seafood with respective proportions of 18.4 percent and 18 percent.

In the nine-month period, Vietnam imported US$9.5 billion worth of materials for agro-forestry-seafood production, up over 27 percent year on year.-VNA