Agro-forestry-fishery exports hit US$33 billion

Vietnam's export turnover of agro-forestry-aquatic products reached US$33.14 billion during the January-November period, representing a rise of 13.8% over the same period last year, reported the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The export value exceeded the full year’s US$32.1 billion revenue of 2016, to set a new high and on the way to reach US$35-36 billion this year.

In November alone, the export revenue touched nearly US$3 billion.

The export of agricultural products rose by 16% in the 11-month period, aquatic products by 18.3% and forestry products by 10.4%.

In the period, Vietnam’s agro-fishery-forestry sector ran a trade surplus of US$8 billion.

Many products posted strong increases in export revenues.

Rice export touched 5.49 million tonnes, worth US$2.48 billion, increasing by 23.4% and 24.2% over the same period last year, respectively.

Fruit and vegetable exports set a new high, reaching US$3.16 billion in the 11-month period, up by 43.2%.

Other agricultural products, which saw a significant increase in exports included rubber (up by 38.9% to US$2 billion revenue) and cashew (up by 23.2% to US$3.2 billion revenue).

Aquatic product exports also touched a new high in the January-November period, estimated at US$7.57 billion in revenue, up by 18.3% over the same period last year.

The United States, Japan, China and the Republic of Korea were the major importers of Vietnamese aquatic products.

The export of wood and wooden products increased 10.5% to reach US$6.87 billion.

Only three products posted a drop in export values, including coffee, pepper and cassava, due to a decrease in export volume or in prices.

Coffee exports in the period fell by 22.5% in volume to 1.27 million tonnes, but slightly rose by 3.8% in value to US$2.89 billion.

Due to a drop of 34.6% in the average pepper export price, the export value of this product decreased by 21.7% to US$1.06 billion, despite a rise of 20.1% in value to 203,000 tonnes.