Huge trade surplus for agro-forestry-aquatic sector

The agro-forestry-aquatic sector has recorded a surplus of US$7.25 billion during the past nine months, representing an annual increase of 15.7%, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

Cashew nuts are one of the six commodity groups that rake in more than US$2 billion from exports in nine months

The sector’s total import-export turnover stood at approximately US$52.8 billion during the reviewed period, with exports recording an increase of 1.6% to US$30.05 billion, and imports dropping by 2.2% to roughly US$22.8 billion.

Most notably, September witnessed the sector post its highest export revenue of US$3.8 billion, representing a rise of 3.8% in comparison to the August figure.

Despite several export items experiencing a downward trajectory, rice, vegetables, cassava, shrimp, wood products, cinnamon, bamboo and rattan have all maintained export growth throughout the nine-month period.

A total of eight commodity groups grossed turnover of over US$1 billion, while six categories raked in more than US$2 billion, namely coffee, rice, cashew nuts, vegetables, shrimp, and wood products.

The United States represented the largest consumer of Vietnamese farm products in nine months, spending over US$7.5 billion on imports, an annual increase of 19.3%. It was followed by China (US$7.24 billion, down 7.7%), ASEAN (US$2.93 billion, up 4.6%), the EU (US$2.83 billion, down 0.6%), and Japan (US$2.51 billion, the same as last year’s corresponding period).

The MARD has asked its relevant agencies to co-ordinate efforts with localities to remove business hurdles, strengthen trade promotion, disseminate new regulations about export markets, especially China.