Vietnam earned 28.2 billion USD from the export of agro-forestry and fishery products in the period from January to November this year, up 12.1 percent year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The ministry noted that the volume of export rice decreased 2.7 percent to 6 million tonnes but earnings rose by 1.9 percent to 2.79 billion USD. China remains Vietnam’s biggest rice market, followed by the Philippines.

The same trend was seen in tea export, with export volume declining 5.2 percent while value increasing to reach 206 million USD thanks to rising export prices.

Pepper brought home 1.16 billion USD in the period, up 35.7 percent from the same period last year. The US, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, India and Holland are the leading importers of Vietnamese pepper, accounting for half of the country’s export volume.

Coffee, another export staple, posted an 18 percent increase year-on-year in export volume with 1.56 million tonnes shipped abroad and a 35.7 percent rise in value with 3.26 billion USD earned.

However, rubber exports generated only 1.62 billion USD, a year-on-year decrease of 27 percent for a volume of 954,000 tonnes, up 0.5 percent compared with 2013.

The situation was due to the decrease in the global rubber price, the ministry said, adding that demand dropped in some important rubber markets such as China and Malaysia.

In the reviewed period, seafood export value reached 7.22 billion USD, an increase of 19.9 percent and the export value of forestry products went up 13 percent to 5.88 billion USD, respectively.-VNA