Soaring prices boost tapioca industry
(VOV) - Tapioca exports have shot up 35.4% in volume and 31% in value year-on-year in the seven months leading up to August, driven mainly by an import surge from China, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has reported.
During the seven months January-July, MARD reported businesses operating in Vietnam shipped 2.89 million metric tonnes of tapioca (cassava chips) to overseas markets generating US$886 million of revenue.
The industry is currently on pace to reach a record high US$1.5 billion of revenue for 2015.
China remained the largest export market accounting for 89% of market share while Japan and Taiwan (China), the two fastest growing markets, expanded 10-fold and 64%, respectively.
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The Vietnam Cassava Association (VCA) in turn reported the average export price of tapioca hovered around US$420-430 per metric tonne for the period and market demand was stable.
Besides the traditional market of China, the industry is making limited headway into new markets like Japan, the Republic of Korea (RoK), the Middle East and Malaysia.
The industry has set a target of achieving revenue of US$2 billion by 2020, the VCA representative unveiled.