Vietnam earned 1.6 billion USD from agroforestry-seafood exports in January, up 13.3 percent over the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development (MARD).

Agricultural products still played an important role, with an export turnover of 910 million USD, representing a year-on-year increase of 19.3 percent.

Rubber was the largest hard currency earner with 70,000 tonnes shipped overseas for 250 million USD, up 29 percent in volume and 82.8 percent in value compared to last year’s corresponding period. At present, the price of Vietnamese rubber has reached a record high of nearly 5,000 USD per tonne.

In the first month of the year, Vietnam exported 15,000 tonnes of cashew nuts worth 98 million USD, increasing in both volume and value.

Pepper exports dropped in volume with 7,000 tonnes but export value rose by over 40 percent.

The country also exported 380,000 tonnes of rice for 200 million USD and 100,000 tonnes of coffee worth 175 million USD during the month.

To maintain export growth, MARD asked businesses to continue improving the quality and prestige of agroforestry-seafood products in both domestic and international markets as well as to strengthen trade promotion activities in major markets, namely China, the EU, Asia and North America./.