HA NOI: The agro-forestry-fishery sector’s export turnover was estimated at US$16.93 billion in the first seven months of 2015, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development announced.
This indicates an overall annual drop of 3.6 per cent. The fisheries sector saw the strongest decline of 17 per cent in the first seven months, reaching $3.53 billion, compared with the same period last year.
The United States was still the largest export market for Vietnamese seafood in the first seven months, accounting for 19.28 per cent of the total national export value of seafood, the ministry said.
Meanwhile, the key farming products showed a year-on-year reduction of 5.7 per cent, falling to $8.2 billion. Earnings from the export of coffee saw the largest drop (down 33.7 per cent), followed by rubber (down 9.2 per cent) and rice (8.3 per cent).
During the period, the coffee industry experienced a year-on-year dip of 33.7 per cent in export value, reaching $1.63 billion, compared to the same period last year. Germany and the US have maintained their roles as the largest importers of Vietnamese coffee, accounting for 15.31 per cent and 11.53 per cent of its market share.
The rubber industry sold 519,000 tonnes of commodities overseas and earned $760 million. The exports had an annual increase of 13.9 per cent in volume but a drop of 33.7 per cent in value. Rubber prices were reported to climb only in China and India, while declining in eight other major markets.
Exported rice has undergone a similar downward trend, with the volume and value reducing annually by 3.1 per cent and 8.3 per cent, respectively. China is still the largest market for Vietnamese rice exports but has shown signs of falling demand. Meanwhile, more than doubling its Vietnamese rice imports has brought Malaysia to third place.
The tea industry also saw an annual reduction of 5.7 per cent in export value to $111 million in the first seven months.
On the other hand, the ministry said cassava exports in the first seven months of this year gained the highest increase of 30.9 per cent in value, reaching $886 million, compared with the first seven months of last year, reported.
The cashew nut industry enjoyed a seven-month export value growth of 26.6 per cent to reach $1.34 billion compared with the same period last year.
Wooden products showed a year-on-year increase of 8.3 per cent in export value to reach $3.7 billion. Meanwhile, pepper exports also followed the positive trend.
