During the period, the country shipped some 1.59 million tonnes of rice to foreign countries and brought home US$692 million, up 41.6% in volume and 40.8% in revenue against the same time last year.
Indonesia emerged as Vietnam’s largest rice importer with 31.42% of market share, followed by China with 17.15%.
Strong growth markets include the Philippines and Malaysia while a sharp fall in rice consumption was recorded in Ivory Coast and Singapore.The value of aquatic exports in the quarter was calculated at nearly US$1.36 billion, rising 1.7% from 2015. Accounting for 51.84% of the market share; the US, Japan and China remained Vietnam’s largest seafood consumption markets.
Likewise, overseas shipments of 479,000 tonnes of coffee earned US$808 million, annual gains of 30.2% and 5.7% in volume and value, respectively.
In stark contrast, the volume of tea exports declined by 5% to 23,000 tonnes, compared to the same time in 2015. As such, its revenue was down 10.2% to US$35 million.
The country also splashed out US$5.31 billion on agro-forestry-fishery imports in Quarter 1, down 3.9% against the same period last year. Imports of major products were US$3.77 billion, a year-on-year drop of 9.7%.
