Prices of staple farm produce drop sharply in Q1

Ho Chi Minh City - The export turnover of local farm produce was reported at VND8.8 billion in the first quarter of the year, down almost 3% year-on-year. The fall was attributed to the two-digit falls in export prices of four staple farm produce items -- pepper, cashew, rice and coffee - reported Thanh Nien newspaper.

A local farmer waters pepper plants in the southern province of Binh Phuoc. The pepper export price in the first quarter of 2019 declined by 27% versus the same period last year – PHOTO: VNA

The pepper export price fell by 27%, the steepest price fall among the four products, with the value dropping 18% while the volume rose 19%.

It was followed by cashew nut, whose average export price in the given period reached over US$8,000 per ton. The cashew export price declined by 21% versus the year-ago period, with the value dipping by over 17%.

Rice came third, with an 18% decrease in export price, and was traded at US$404 per ton. The rice export value over the first three months of this year dropped by over 20%, despite a mere 3.5% dip in volume.

Also, coffee for exports now reported a 14% decrease in price. Local coffee exporters earned US$830 million in revenue in the first quarter, down nearly 24% in value and 15.3% in volume.

Other farm produce such as vegetables, cassava and shrimp products also faced a drop in export price of nearly 10%. The export turnover of vegetables and shrimp products hit over US$870 million and US$670 million, respectively.

The export of vegetables saw the strongest growth among agro-aqua-forestry products over the past three years. However, due to its heavy dependence on the Chinese market as the dominant outlet, it encountered a decline when the demand for vegetables in this market fell.