The Q1 figure included US$4.6 billion coming from farm produce (up by 9% year on year), US$1.7 billion from aquatic products (up 11.5%), and nearly US$2 billion from forestry items (up 6.6%).
Up to 524,000 tonnes of rice were shipped abroad for US$261 million in March, raising the total rice export volume in January-March to 1.36 million tonnes for US$669 million, representing rises of 9.4% in volume and 24% in value from the same January-March period in 2017.
China still remained the top importer of Vietnamese rice, accounting for 24.4% of the marker share. There was a surge in Vietnam’s export value from Iraq (5.7 times) and Malaysia (2.7 times).
In the three-month period, cashews were estimated to earn US$739 million from 73,000 tonnes, showing surges of 43.6% and nearly 31%, respectively from the same period last year.
The US, China, and the Netherlands remained the three largest importers of Vietnam’s cashews.
Vegetables and fruits raked in US$934 million, up over 33% from the same quarter in 2017.
The country’s other major farm produce, like coffee, rubber, and peppercorn, however, experienced a decline in export earnings.
Peppercorn, for example, faced a 37% drop in export value, bringing home only US$203 million.
Rubber saw a decrease of nearly 21% in export value, earning US$403 million for 272,000 tonnes (which is up by 8.9%).
Up to 520,000 tonnes of coffee were sold abroad for US$1 billion, up by 15.1% in volume but down by 1.7% in value when compared with the same time last year.
In the three-month period, the country imported farm, forestry and fishery products worth US$6.89 billion, up by 8.4% from the same period last year, the ministry said.
