Agro-forestry-fisheries sector enjoys trade surplus of US$3.3 billion in eight months

ABO/NDO – The agro-forestry-fisheries sector's export revenue reached about US$32.1 billion in the first eight months of this year, up 21.6%, while imports were estimated at US$28.8 billion, up 44.1%, resulting in a trade surplus of about US$3.3 billion, a fall of 48.2% over the same period last year, reported the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

Revenue from major agricultural products recorded a 13.6% growth to US$13.9 billion, while forestry exports rose 42.7% to US$11.2 billion, and aquatic products’ revenue increased 7.1% to US$5.6 billion. Exports of livestock hit US$286 million, up 15.9%.

Despite a fall of 1.3% in volume, export revenue of peppercorn still rose over 50% to US$666 million. However, rice and tea suffered fall in both volume and value.

Processing shrimp for export in Khanh Hoa province (Photo: VNA).

The major export market of Vietnamese agro-forestry-fisheries products was Asian countries which accounted for 41.5% of the market share, followed by America with 31.3%, Europe 11.3%, Africa 1.9% and Oceania 1.5%.

The US remained the biggest market of the sector with consumption of US$9.3 billion worth of the products, accounting for 29.1% of the market share. It was followed by China with 18.9% of the market share.

In the first eight months of this year, Vietnam imported US$28.8 billion of agro-forestry-fisheries products, up 44.1% year on year, including US$2.9 billion worth of goods (mostly cashew nuts) from Cambodia and US$2.7 bilion from the US.

In August alone, the sector earned nearly US$3.4 billion from export, down 21.6% over the same time last year and 22% compared to the previous month.

Downturn was seen in export revenue of the majority of products, excepting for cassava, grain and milk products.

The sharpest fall was seen in the export value of furniture at over 50%, followed by tra fish at 30%, vegetable nearly 26%, fertilizer 24%, and peppercorn 21.5%.

The ministry explained that COVID-19 impacts forced factories to slow down operations or even shut down, affecting production for export.

The MARD said that in the rest of the year, it will continue to strengthen trade promotion to increase exports, while supporting localities and businesses in exporting farm produce, coordinating with relevant agencies and representative offices abroad to give market forecast, and applying online assessment on agricultural products.

(Source: NDO)