Agriculture sector posts 11M trade surplus of $8.8bn

Surplus $1.5bn higher than in first eleven months of 2018.

The agriculture sector earned $37.3 billion from exporting farm produce and forestry and seafood products in the January - November period, while imports of such goods totaled $28.5 billion, for a trade surplus of $8.8 billion, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Export value increased 3.6 per cent year-on-year while import value was down 0.7 per cent. The trade surplus was $1.5 billion higher than in the same period last year

Seven items had export value in excess of $2 billion: coffee, rubber, rice, cashew nuts, fruit, shrimp, and wood and wooden products.

Four of these, however, saw a fall in export value year-on-year, such as cashew nuts (down 1.8 per cent to $3 billion), fruit (down 5.5 per cent to $2.6 billion), rice (down 9.4 per cent to $2.6 billion), and coffee (down 23 per cent to $2.5 billion).

China remained the largest purchaser of Vietnam’s agriculture products, accounting for 26.9 per cent of total exports. Following was the US (21.9 per cent), the EU (11.7 per cent), ASEAN (10 per cent), and Japan (8.8 per cent).

The Ministry forecast that agricultural export revenue for 2019 is likely to hit $41.3 billion, with a trade surplus of $9.5-10 billion.

Vietnam earned $40.2 billion from agriculture exports last year, making it the second-largest exporter in Southeast Asia.