Vietnams agricultural exports in July reaches USD 3.4 billion

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Vietnam's agricultural exports in July increased 4.6% from the previous month to an estimated US$3.4 billion, with a strong rally in forestry and seafood exports.

Vietnam's agricultural exports in July increased 4.6% (Photo: Lang Moi)

Specifically, main forestry products brought in US$1.1 billion, up 9.8%, while seafood earned US$780 million, up 8.4%. Several agricultural exports with strong growth from January to June included rice, vegetables, cassava, shrimp, cinnamon, timber, and bamboo and rattan products, according to Nhan Dan.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) said that in July, the export value of agriculture, forestry and fishery was estimated at US $ 3.4 billion, up 4.6% compared to June 2020. Forestry and fishery continued to record production recovery and regained export growth momentum.

However, in 7 months, the export turnover of agriculture, forestry and fishery is estimated at 22.3 billion USD, down 2.8% over the same period in 2019. Import turnover of agricultural, forestry and fishery products was estimated at US $ 17.2 billion, down 4.6% over the same period in 2019. The import value of commodities agriculture, forestry and fishery is mainly estimated at 13.9 billion USD, down 6.1%, reported by Financial Times.

Six commodities have reported revenues of US$1 billion and above, given that the coronavirus pandemic remains complicated both at home and abroad, seriously affecting global trade.

As the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) takes effect on August 1, many Vietnamese agricultural exports to the EU will enjoy a zero-tariff rate. At present, many exporters have prepared to conquer this market.

There is a growing trend of importing countries putting up technical barriers and trade defence instruments to protect local manufacturing. Hence, if Vietnam cannot meet such requirements timely, it is unlikely to benefit from tariff preferences and other market opening measures.

To successfully accelerate exports in the final months of 2020 and beyond, Vietnam needs to exert efforts to deal with the coronavirus pandemic and technical barriers and proactively tap into resources for producing, processing and selling agricultural products.

Special attention should be given to forecasting the demands of importing markets in terms of both volume and type of agricultural products in order to devise an appropriate direction for domestic farmers.

At the same time, continuous efforts are needed to further improve the quality and safety of agricultural products that can fully meet the requirements introduced by importing countries.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development expects the growth plan of the whole industry to reach 2.6-3%, of which, agriculture increases by 2.85%; fishery increased by 3.0%; forestry increased by 2.57%. At the same time, it expects that the total export turnover of agriculture, forestry and fisheries in 2020 will reach about 41 billion USD.