Vietnam earns $40.8 bln from agriculture, fisheries, forestry exports

Vietnam earned $40.8 billion from exporting agriculture, forestry and fisheries products in the first nine months of this year, up 15.2% year-on-year.

The major earners were fisheries - $8.53 billion, up 38% year-on-year; coffee - $3.08 billion (up 37.6%); and rice - $2.64 billion (up 9.3%), according to the General Statistics Office.

Meanwhile year-on-year declines were seen in the export of vegetables and fruits - $2.45 billion (down 11.1%), and cashew - $2.29 billion (down 14%).

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development estimates total export revenues at $55 billion this year, exceeding the government’s target by $5 billion.

Its cultivation department said paddy output this year may reach 19.97 million tons, down 661,300 tons or down 3.2% year-on-year. But the output would still be able to meet domestic demand and translate into exports of 6.3-6.5 million tons.

In the first nine months, the country’s output of live buffalo reached 88,200 tons, up 2.1%; beef - 348,900 tons (up 4.2%); pork - 3.23 million tons (up 5.8%); and poultry meat - 1.47 million tons (up 4.8%).

Vietnam recorded an output of 13.44 million eggs and 932,100 tons of milk, up 4.7% and 10.3% year-on-year, respectively.

Seafood output reached 6.6 million tons between January and September, up 2.6% year-on-year. They included 4.75 million tons of fish, 886,600 tons of shrimp, and 965,000 tons of other products, up 1.9%, 8.8% and 1.1%, respectively.

The ministry said the sector is set to face some difficulties in the coming months including rising prices of some fertilizers, higher prices of animal feed in the southern region, natural disasters, diseases and lower export demand due to inflation and stricter quality controls.