Vietnamese rice is bound for a foreign market in this fi le photo. Export value of agro-forestry-aquatic products in the fi rst nine months of the year totaled around US$20.4 billion, up 10.2% year-on-year - Photo: Thai Hang
Export value of agro-forestry-aquatic products reached an estimated US$2.3 billion this month, taking the nine-month turnover to around US$20.4 billion, up 10.2% year-on-year, even though the export prices of farm produce, especially rubber and cashew, are falling.
As per a report of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, export value of major agro-products in the January-September period totaled an estimated US$11.1 billion, a year-on-year rise of 6.2%. Meanwhile, fishery and forestry exports contributed US$4.5 billion and US$3.58 billion, marking up 3.5% and 19.2% respectively against last year, the report said.
Among farm products bound for foreign markets, rubber recorded the sharpest price fall as its average export price dipped by up to 32.7% year-on-year to stay at US$2,910 a ton in the first eight months. From January to September, rubber exports reached a combined 700,000 tons worth US$2.05 billion, up 32.6 % in volume but down 10.1% in value.
Rubber shipments posted strong growth but export turnover of farm produce has sharply tumbled due to price falls since January.
Similarly, Jan-Aug’s export revenue of cashew nuts dropped 16.6% year-on-year to US$6,810 a ton. The country this year has exported an estimated 160,000 tons of cashew nuts, bringing home US$1.08 billion, jumping 26.5% in volume and 3.5% in value year-on-year.
Price contraction of rice and coffee products is lower than that of rubber and cashew. For instance, rice export volumes from January to September reached an estimated 6.2 million tons worth US$2.78 billion, surging 4.5% in volume but tumbling 6.1% in value.
The first nine months witnessed impressive growth of coffee exports, with export sales amounting to US$2.85 billion worth of 1.36 million tons, up 36.8% in volume and 29.8% in value. But the eight-month export coffee price was US$2,119 a ton, slipping 3.9% year-on-year.
Pepper exports in the Jan-Sep period totaled US$627 million worth of 91,000 tons, down 16.7% in volume and 0.9% in value.
Tea product exports in the same period were a combined 105,000 tons worth US$161 million, soaring 8.8% in volume and 8.3% in value from the previous year.
Wood and wooden product exports this year jumped 20.2% to US$3.4 billion. Seafood product exports generated US$4.5 billion in the same period, with the U.S. consuming up to 19% of the total as the biggest importer.
The Saigon Times Daily
