The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development estimated that the country’s export turnover of agricultural, forest and aquatic products reached US$1.5 billion in February, totalling US$3.6 billion in the first two months of the year, up 50.7 percent year on year.
Exports of primary agricultural products were estimated to value US$816 million in February and US$2 billion in the January-February period, up 57.5 percent year on year. Major exports were still rice, coffee, tea, cashew nuts and pepper.
The Ministry noted that the country shipped 600,000 tonnes of rice worth US$300 million in February, bringing the total rice export 1.1 million tonnes worth US$592 million in the two months, up 55.6 percent in volume and 44.5 percent in value from a year earlier.
Coffee exports were forecast to reach 225,000 tonnes worth US$438 million in the first two months of the year, up only 2.2 per cent in volume but 40.4 per cent in value against the same period last year. Coffee price accelerated to VND43,000 per kilo in the domestic market while the global price reached US$1,946 per tonne, up 38.5 percent against the same period last year. Consumption in primary markets like Belgium, the United States, and Italy is growing.
Export of tea, cashew nuts, and pepper also expanded in the first two months. Particularly, tea shipments brought in US$32 million, up 34.3 per cent year on year; cashew nuts exports valued at US$166 million, up 55.2 percent; and pepper exports were worth US$53 million, up 23.4 percent.
According to estimates by the Informatics and Statistics Centre under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, seafood export generated US$400 million in February and US$835 million in the two month period, up 54.4 percent year on year. Despite difficulties arising from raw materials, shrimp export maintained its growth momentum in both volume and value. Exports to major markets like the United States, Japan and the EU expanded 30 percent over the same period in 2010.
Exports of forest products reached US$222 million in February and US$594 million in the two months, up 18.6 percent on year. Wood product exports valued US$200 million in February and US$548 million in the January - February period, up 17.6 percent against the same period of 2010. Major markets the United States, Japan, China and South Korea accounted for 63.7 percent of the value. Vietnam reported a 2.8-fold increase in wood product exports to South Korea in the first two months.
Rubber exports were estimated at 30,000 tonnes worth US$135 million, raising the two-month exports to 106,000 tonnes valued at US$467 million, up 38.2 percent in volume and 2.4 times in value over the same period last year.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, exports of most agricultural, forest and aquatic products accelerated in both volume and value.
Nam Pham
Vietnamese
