Vietnam pockets 25 bln USD from agricultural, forestry, seafood exports in first 11 months of 2012

Vietnam\'s agricultural, forestry and seafood sector is forecast to pocket 25 billion U.S. dollars from its export products in the first 11 months of 2012, a year-on-year increase of 9.9 percent, reported the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the sector spent 15.39 billion dollars for the imports of raw materials in service of production, a year-on-year increase of 5.9 percent, posting a trade surplus of over 9.6 billion dollars for the whole sector so far this year, said the report. Of the total export value during the 11-month period, agricultural exports contributed over 13.6 billion dollars, up 9.3 percent; seafood exports with 5.6 billion dollars, up 1.2 percent; and forestry exports with 4.4 billion dollars, up 18.9 percent, year-on-year. So far this year, the country exported 7.4 million tons of rice, earning 3.4 billion dollars, up 9.7 percent in volume, but down 1. 4 percent in value compared to the same period last year. The average rice export price in the first 10 months reached 454 dollars per ton, a year-on-year decrease of 10 percent. Rice exports to China strongly increased, with 6.2 folds in volume and 5.3 folds in value. Meanwhile, demands from other markets, such as Indonesia, Singapore and Senegal declined. During the period, the country exported 1.56 million tons of coffee, earning 3.33 billion dollars, up 42 percent in volume and 37.4 percent in value. The average coffee export prices hit 2,133 dollars per ton, a decrease of 3.5 percent. Germany and the United States remained the two largest importers of Vietnamese coffee, accounting for 12.3 percent and 12 percent, respectively, of the country\'s coffee export market. Besides, demand from Indonesia strongly increased during the period, up 8.4 folds in volume and eight folds in value year-on- year. Other major agricultural product exports brought remarkable earnings to the country, including rubber with 2.6 billion dollars; tea with 205 million dollars; cashew with 1.36 billion dollars and pepper with 750 million dollars. Meanwhile, wood-based product exports earned 430 million dollars in November, increasing the 11-month export value of these products to 4.4 billion dollars, a year-on-year increase of 18.9 percent. The largest consumers for Vietnamese forestry product exports include the United States (up 28.4 percent), Japan (14.9 percent) and China (up 7.7 percent). So far this year, the country spent 1.56 billion dollars to import 3.59 tons of fertilizers (down 9.1 percent in volume and 4. 9 percent in value, year-on-year); 627 million dollars for insecticides (up 9.6 percent); 1.25 billion dollars for wood-based products (up 2.8 percent); 699 million dollars for wheat (down 4.1 percent); 2.19 billion dollars for animal feed and raw materials for production (up 5.2 percent). Imports of 274,000 tons of rubber also cost the country 729 million dollars, a decrease of 15.6 percent in volume and 14.7 percent in value, year-on-year. Meanwhile, the country spent 614 million dollars for the imports of seafood, 343 million dollars for cashew and 684 million dollars for beans. Under a master plan approved by the Vietnamese Prime Minister earlier this year, Vietnam set a target to earn 40 billion U.S. dollars annually from agricultural, forestry and seafood exports by 2020. Of this, farm product would account for 22 billion dollars, seafood for 11 billion dollars and wood products for 7 billion dollars.