HANOI: Viet Nam’s farming, fishery and forestry exports this year may achieve 95 per cent of the target, an official of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said on Tuesday.
During the ministry’s regular press conference on reviewing the sector’s first nine-month business results, Pham Cong Dung, head of the ministry’s Department of Processing and Trade of Agricultural, Forestry, and Fishery Products and Salt Production, said the agricultural sector set a target of US$32 billion in export value this year.
However, an increase in the price of the US dollar, changes in the foreign exchange rates of several strong currencies – particularly Euros – which detrimentally affected export businesses and high inventory of agricultural products of Viet Nam’s key importers all posed difficulties for the country’s exports.
In the first nine months of this year, the total export turnover of farming, forestry and fishery products was estimated at nearly $21.7 billion, down 5 per cent from the same period last year.
Of which, exports of major agricultural and seafood products were valued at $10.3 billion and $4.7 billion, down 7.2 per cent and 17.8 per cent, respectively, while the export value of wood and forest products reached $5.03 billion, a year-on-year rise of 6.6 per cent.
By the end of this year, the ministry will also organise more trade promotion activities and continue negotiations towards market openings for several agricultural products, such as dragon fruit to Japan and chicken to Russia.
It will review traditional export markets to promote exports to those, according to the ministry. It will also reduce fees and charges of the agricultural sectors to solve difficulties in administrative procedures for export activities.
