(VOVworld) – Despite encountering difficulties in the first few months of this year, exports of Vietnamese agricultural, forestry and fishery products have made an impressive recovery. Some of them: seafood, rice, coffee, rubber, wood, and cashew-nuts have brought in more than 1 billion USD. VOV’s To Tuan reports….

Vietnam is estimated to earn 4.5 billion USD from seafood exports over the past 9 months. (Photo: chinhphu.vn)

The Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development reports that Vietnam earned 20.4 billion U.S. dollars from agricultural, forestry and fisheries exports over the past nine months, up more than 10% year-on-year. Of the sectors, seafood topped the list, with revenues reaching 4.5 billion U. S. dollars, up 3.5% against the same period last year. Vietnam also exported 6.2 million tons of rice, worth 2.78 billion U.S. dollars, up 4.5 percent in volume but down 6.1 percent in value due to falling prices. China became the country's biggest rice customer, while demands from the Philippines, Indonesia and Singapore have fallen off. The figures have been attributed to the policy to support farmers and stabilize food prices which has initially proven very effective as well as the government’s plan to stockpile rice. Bui Thi Thanh Tam, Deputy Director General of the Vietnam Northern Food Corporation, says ‘Russia, India, and Myanmar have temporarily stopped exporting to ensure domestic reserves and stockpile local food prices. We should take this into account and not try to sell at a low price right now but increase the stockpile to raise profits at a later date, while ensuring farmers’ interests.’

According to the Vietnam Food Association, with these figures, the sector is likely to exceed this year’s target of 7 million tons. In addition, 1.36 million tons of coffee was also exported during this period, bringing in a revenue of 2.85 billion dollars and helping Vietnam to pass Brazil for the first time to become the world’s biggest exporter. Other Vietnam’s agricultural exports including rubber, cashewnút, and wood-based products enjoyed a measured success. Economists say that the growth of the country’s agricultural, forestry and fisheries exports has proved the sector has improved its competitiveness and adapted to the global economic recession. But the current challenging export market still requires Vietnamese businesses including exporters to continue grasping every opportunity to ensure long-term sustainability. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung addressed September monthly government meeting ‘We will likely have another successful harvest after the Autumn-winter crop if we can finance farmers sufficiently. We are being helped by a rise in food prices, increased productivity and a wider range of consumer markets. The second advantage for the agricultural sector is the export of aquaculture products, including tra fish and shrimp. With our advantages over other potential markets, in production, and export growth, we need to step up processing nationally to increase our export revenue.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade reports that so far this year Vietnam has earned a total of almost 84 billion dollars from exports, with a trade surplus being 34 million dollars. From now until the end of this year, Vietnam is estimated to reach export revenue of 113 billion dollars for the whole year.

To Tuan