For example, export revenue of vegetables and fruits reached 2.75 billion USD in the first half of this year, up 64.2% against the same period last year, the export revenue of rice hit 2.3 billion USD, up 34.7%, and the export revenue of cashew nuts was 1.6 billion USD, up 7.7%, among others.
Export turnover reaches 24.59 billion USD in first six months
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the total export turnover of agricultural, forestry and fishery products was posted at 24.59 billion USD in the first six months of 2023, down 11.1% over the same period in 2022.
In which, the export revenue of the group of main agricultural products reached 12.79 billion USD, up 12%; livestock products was 232 million USD, up 26.5%; and seafood products was 4.13 billion USD, down 27.4%. Meanwhile, main forestry products recorded total export revenue of 6.5 billion USD, down 28.2%.
Several products witnessed export value of over 1 billion USD each, including: coffee, rubber, rice, vegetables, cashew nuts, shrimp, and wood.
Rice and cashew nuts are two products that saw increases in both volume and value. Specifically, rice exports expanded by 22.2% in volume and 34.7% in export value while cashew exports rose by 10.5% in volume and 7.7% in value. Despite a decrease in the volume of coffee (1.02 million tonnes, down 2.2%), the export value reached 2.4 billion USD, up 3% thanks to a 5.2% advance in the average export price.
Director of the Department of Crop Production (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) Nguyen Nhu Cuong announced that Vietnam’s area of vegetable cultivation is not large but its export value is not inferior to other countries. Vietnam should focus on improving its product quality and increasing deep processing to realise the goal of fruit and vegetable exports of 10 billion USD.
However, the agricultural sector has encountered difficulties in both the domestic and international markets with a plunge in prices, especially pork, while input prices have remained high in the first six months of 2023, according to Nguyen Van Viet, director of the Planning Department (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development).
Agricultural exports expected to hit 54 billion USD
The agricultural export market has yet to show clear signs of recovery in the remaining months of this year while the inventories of both importers and domestic enterprises are high and demand remains low, according to Nguyen Nhu Tiep, director of the National Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development).
Besides the fall in exports, Tiep noted that export markets in general and the EU market in particular have also set increasingly strict requirements.
The EU market leads the regulations of the world export market. Its previous regulations were related to food safety, but now they feature issues related to sustainable development. Thus, Vietnam needs policies regulating traceability to meet market requirements, Tiep said.
“Besides commercial factors, technical factors are also issues needing much attention to ensure that export markets will be expanded, not narrowed,” Tiep added.
Vietnam set a target of achieving agricultural, forestry and fishery export revenue of 54-55 billion USD in 2023. Viet said that Vietnam should implement solutions to boost key export products with high prospects and high export value to offset products that may not reach the export target set for the whole year. Accordingly, the export revenue of main agricultural products is projected to reach 25 billion USD while the export revenue of forestry products and wooden products is anticipated to hit 17 billion USD and seafood is expected to reach 10 billion USD this year.
“In order to achieve the same export turnover as last year, export turnover must increase by 7-8% each month. Besides completing legal documents, market opening and trade promotion are also very important in order to accomplish the target of 54-55 billion USD. Without the market, it is impossible to produce,” Viet said.
“Fruit and vegetable exports reached 2.75 billion USD in the first six months of this year, the highest figure ever. If we can keep this pace in the last six months of the year, fruit and vegetable exports will surpass 5 billion USD for the entire year of 2023. If we do well in seeding, deep processing, and market expansion, an export value of 10 billion USD will definitely be reachable,” said Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien.
Regarding rice, the Vietnamese rice price is currently as high as that of India and higher than Thailand. Last year, Vietnam exported 7.13 million tonnes of rice worth 3.49 billion USD. In the first six months of 2023, 4.27 million tonnes of rice was shipped abroad worth 2.3 billion USD. Thus, the total output is expected to reach around 8 million tonnes for the whole of 2023, earning over 4 billion USD.
