China reduces imports of Vietnams cassava

Although exports of cassava and cassava products saw strong growth over the first five months of this year, exports to China dropped 25.4% to just 1.1 million tons, according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs.

Vietnam shipped 223,400 tons of cassava and cassava products worth US$100.1 million in May, bringing the total export amount for the five months to 1.3 million tons valued at US$468.1 million, down 23.6% in volume but up 10.1% in value against the same period last year. The increase in export value was attributed to the 44.4% rise in export prices, hitting US$356.9 per ton.

China was the largest consumer of Vietnamese cassava products, buying up 88.5% of the country’s total exports with 1.1 million tons worth US$408.2 million, down 25.4% in volume but up 8.7% in value.

The Republic of Korea came second with 43,400 tons valued at US$11.7 million, up 7.9% in volume and 30% in value, followed by the Philippines (18,900 tons), Malaysia (18,800 tons), Taiwan (17,300 tons) and Japan (10,100 tons).

Over the five-month period, the Philippines witnessed the sharpest decrease, dropping 40.4% in volume and 15.7% in value. Meanwhile Japan was the highest growth market, ballooning 3.8 times in volume and 2.6 times in value.