Agro-forestry-fishery exports hit US$22.2 billion in first seven months

According to the Processing and Market Development Authority (AgroTrade) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Vietnam exported US$11.6 billion worth of farm produce from January to July, up 3.6% against the same period last year.Markets seeing strong export growth included Indonesia in rice, coffee, and rubber; Russia in coffee and cashew nuts; Germany in tea, cashew nuts, pepper, and rubber; Malaysia in rice, tea, wood, vegetables and fruit; the Philippines in rice and coffee; Saudi Arabia in tea; Iraq and Hong Kong in rice; the US in tea, cashew nuts, and pepper; India in rubber and pepper; and Thailand in vegetables and fruit, and aquatic products.Rice remained one of the biggest hard currency earners. Vietnam earned US$1.96 billion from selling 3.87 million tonnes of rice abroad, up 29.2% in value and 12.2 percent in volume. China continued to be the largest rice importer of Vietnam with 26.8% of the market share.In the seven-month period, Vietnam earned US$2.3 billion from exporting fruits and vegetables, mainly to China, up 12.6%.The country exported 1.16 million tonnes of coffee worth US$2.22 billion, up 10.8 percent in volume but down 5.7% in value. Germany and the US remained the two biggest consumers of Vietnamese coffee.Vietnam sold 153,000 tonnes of pepper worth US$517 million to overseas markets during the January-July period, up 3.7% in volume but down 36.1% in value.As many as 696,000 tonnes of rubber were exported in the period, bringing home US$997 million, up 9.9% in volume and down 10.7% in value.