Agro-forestry-aquatic product exports hit 13.7 billion USD

Hanoi (VNA) - The export value of agricultural, forestry and aquatic products reached 13.7 billion USD in the first five months of 2017, a year-on-year increase of 9.5 percent.

In May alone, the country’s export earnings from these products were estimated at 2.8 billion USD, reported the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The five-month increase was buoyed by a surge of 10.4 percent in the export value of aquatic products to 2.8 billion USD, including 618 million USD in May.

The US, Japan, China, and the Republic of Korea (RoK) were major import markets of Vietnamese aquatic products, accounting for 53.5 percent of the sector’s total export value.

Vegetable and fruit exports surged 38 percent year on year to 1.38 billion USD, with 344 million USD earned in May.

The export turnover of wood and wooden products also climbed 9.9 percent from the same period last year, reaching 2.9 billion USD. In May alone, Vietnam exported 513 million USD worth of wood and wooden products.

The markets saw remarkable surges in the export value of wood and wooden products were China (35.6 percent), the US (16.1 percent), the Republic of Korea (14.7 percent) and German (11.2 percent).

Vietnam exported 538,000 tonnes of rice for 245 million USD in May, raising the five-month volume to 1.3 million tonnes and value to 1 billion USD, up 1.6 percent and 1.2 percent year on year, respectively. China remained the top importer of Vietnamese rice.

Coffee export saw a drop of 15.9 percent in volume, but an increase of 11 percent in value in the January-May period to 693,000 tonnes and 1.57 billion USD. In May alone, Vietnam shipped 105,000 tonnes of coffee abroad for 233 million USD.

According to the ministry, Vietnam’s import value of agro-forestry-aquatic products in the first five months was estimated at 11.02 billion USD, up 23.6 percent year in year, including 2.52 billion USD worth of products imported in May.