Agro-forestry and fisheries exports reach over US$23.6 billion in eight months

Vietnam’s agro-forestry and fisheries export revenues were estimated to reach US$3.1 billion in August, bringing the total figure for the first eight months of 2017 to US$23.66 billion, up 13.5% compared to the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

Illustrative Image (Pho to: Thai Thien).

The export value of key farm products hit approximately US$12.6 billion so far this year, representing an annual increase of 17.2%, while the value stood at US$5.13 billion for key marine products (up 18.1%) and US$5.95 billion for major forest products (up 9.6%).

Vietnam exported around 3.96 million tonnes of rice between January and August, raking in US$1.75 billion, up 19.8% in volume and 17.5% in value, in comparison to the same period in 2016.

China remains the largest importer of Vietnamese rice, accounting for 41% of the market share, followed by Malaysia with 7.3%.

Coffee exports brought home US$2.33 billion for Vietnam, with a volume of 1.02 million tonnes, registering a 19.9% decline in volume but a 3% rise in value.

Vietnam earned US$1.36 billion from exporting 795,000 tonnes of rubber (up 11.2% in volume and 52% in value), whilst raking in US$889 million from shipping 165,000 tonnes of pepper abroad (up 21.6% in volume and down 19.5% in value).

Despite a slight decrease of 1.1% in terms of volume (223,000 tonnes), cashew nuts still reported a dramatic rise of almost 25% in their export value (US$2.2 billion) thanks to a sharp increase in export prices.

Vietnam’s fruit and vegetable exports were estimated at US$2.32 billion in the eight months, up 46.5% compared to the same period last year. China, Japan, the US and the Republic of Korea were the four largest importers of Vietnamese fruits and vegetables.

During the period, Vietnam imported US$19.17 billion worth of agricultural products, resulting in the country’s trade surplus of US$4.49 billion.

(Source: NDO)