Positive signals for farm produce exports

The ministry estimates key agricultural exports will be valued at US$1.17 billion, up 46.6 percent; seafood at US$376 million, up 3.5 percent; and key forestry products at US$447 million, up 46 percent.

Vietnam shipped 534,000 tonnes of rice abroad for US$259 million in January, increasing 108 percent in volume and 76.4 percent in value. But, rice prices fell 10.8 percent on average to US$458/tonne.

Last year, China was Vietnam’s largest rice consumer, importing 6.7 times its 2011 volume. Other markets including Indonesia, Singapore and Senegal all fell considerably.

Coffee export earnings rose 70.7 percent in January to US$387 million. Last year’s average coffee price hovered around US$2,120/tonne, down 3.5 percent on 2011.

The US and Germany overtook Belgium to become Vietnam’s largest coffee consumers, making up 12.5 percent and 11.6 percent of the country’s coffee exports, respectively.

Tea production maintained steady growth, with January export earnings rising 16.4 percent to US$16 million. Pakistan was Vietnam’s largest tea export market in 2012, purchasing 20 percent of total export volume. Growth was seen in most big markets, excluding Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Germany.

In January, Vietnam exported 14,000 tonnes of cashew nuts for US$88 million, up 47 percent in volume and 17.9 percent in value, and retaining its position as the world’s leading cashew nut exporter. The US was Vietnam’s largest cashew nut consumer, importing 27.6 percent of the total.

Wood products saw export earnings rise 47.3 percent to US$425 million. Seafood exports endured relatively low growth of 3.5 percent. The US was the largest importer of Vietnamese seafood in 2012, followed by Japan and the Republic of Korea.

In contrast to the gloomy forecasts for the global economy, experts predicted that 2013 would deliver success to the agro-forestry-fishery export sector.