Vietnam pockets $13.3bn from farm, forest, seafood exports in H1

Vietnam is expected to pocket 13.3 billion U.S. dollars from farm, forest and seafood exports in the first half this year, although the figure posts a year-on-year decrease of 1.7 percent, reported the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on its website Thursday. Of the total export value, farm exports earned about 6.8 billion dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 10.5 percent, while forestry exports gained 2.59 billion dollars, up 12.4 percent and seafood exports with 2.88 billion dollars, up 0.9 percent. Among agricultural exports, only cashew and pepper posted notable increase during the first six months, while others saw a sharp decrease, like coffee exports with the largest drop, 24.2 percent in volume and 22.4 percent in value, cassava with a fall of 29.4 percent in volume and 15 percent in value, latex with 5 percent in volume and 20 percent in value and rice with 7 percent in volume and 10 percent in value. During the six-month period, the country exported 115,000 tons of cashew, earning 723 million dollars, up 15.9 percent in volume and 5.7 percent in value year on year. The average cashew export price in the first five months reached 6,185 U.S. dollars per ton, down 10.5 percent compared to the same period last year. The United States, China and Holland maintained the largest importers of Vietnamese cashew exports, accounting for 31.1 percent, 16.1 percent and 10.5 percent respectively of the country\'s total cashew export value. Meanwhile, the country earned 552 million dollars from 85,000 tons of pepper exports, a year-on-year rise of 22 percent in volume and 16.8 percent in value. The average pepper export price reached 6,554 U.S. dollars per ton, down 4.1 percent. Demands from the United States and Germany for Vietnamese pepper continued to increase, reaching 93.5 percent and 20.4 percent respectively in volume, and 84.1 percent and 15.2 percent in value year on year. Timber and wood-based exports in the first half of this year brought the country 2.46 billion dollars, up 12.5 percent year on year. Demands rose sharply from South Korea (up 44.4 percent), Japan (up 18.7 percent), China (10.3 percent) and the United States (6.1 percent). The United States remained Vietnam\'s largest seafood importer, accounting for 20.4 percent of the country\'s seafood export value of 2.88 billion dollars. Besides, demands from some major markets also surged during the reviewed period, especially from China (up 40.6 percent) and Thailand (up 22.7 percent). During the first half, the farm, forest and seafood sector spent over 8.7 billion dollars for the imports in service of its production, up 8.6 percent year on year, resulting in a trade surplus of about 4.6 billion dollars for the whole sector.