Vietnam's agriculture sector posts 11-month trade surplus of $8.8 billion

Export value increased 3.6 percent year-on-year while import value was down 0.7 percent, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

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 percent to $3 billion), fruit (down 5.5 percent to $2.6 billion), rice (down 9.4 percent to $2.6 billion), and coffee (down 23 percent to $2.5 billion).

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

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.

Source: Vietnam Economic Times