Agro-exports plunge

Vietnam’s agro-forestry-fishery product exports reached US$15.66 billion in the first fourth months of the year, down 13.3% over the year-ago period.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, exports of agro-forestry-fishery products were estimated at US$4.54 billion in April, down by US$1.2 million compared to the previous month and 8.3% year-on-year.

Despite a plunge in export revenue from agro-forestryfishery products in January-April, the country still enjoyed a trade surplus of US$2.51 billion in the period.

In the first four months, some commodities saw export revenue higher than last year, such as coffee at US$1.7 billion, up 2.5%, fruits and vegetables at US$1.39 billion, up 19.4%, and rice at US$1.56 billion, up 54.5%.

Other commodities dropped in export revenue, such as rubber at US$684.8 million, down 20.1%, pepper at US$325 million, down 10.2%, timber and woodwork at US$3.9 billion, down 30.4%; tra fish US$558 million, down 39.9%; and shrimp at US$843 million, down 39.6%.

Exports to Asian markets rose by 2.7%, while exports to the Americas, the EU, Africa and Oceania slid by 13-40%. China, the U.S. and Japan remained the largest buyers of Vietnamese agro-forestry-fishery products, accounting for 20.9%, 18.9% and 8.1% of the total export turnover respectively.

The ministry attributed the export plunge to global economic slowdown, the Russia-Ukraine military conflict, dwindling demand, and high inflation in some countries, especially key importers of Vietnam’s agro products like the U.S., the EU, Japan and South Korea.