The nation’s agro-forestry and fisheries export revenues exceeded 10 billion USD in the first five months of the year, a year-on-year rise of 41.5 percent, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) said.

The five-month agricultural products export turnover recorded a year-on-year surge of 150 percent, followed by seafood products, 27.3 percent and forest products, 19.1 percent.

In the review period, the country exported more than 3 million tonnes of rice for almost 1.5 billion USD, year-on-year rises of 20.6 percent in volume and 23.6 percent in value. Indonesia, Cuba and Malaysia remained Vietnam’s major rice importers.

MARD said it was likely to fulfil the target of exporting 7.4 million tonnes of rice this year as it has noticed soars of 58.6 percent in volume and 90 percent in value of rice imported by the Hong Kong (China) market.

The five-month coffee exports exceeded last year’s turnover, with almost 1.8 billion USD. The coffee sector is predicted to break the 2008 record of 2.2 billion USD in the next two months.

Although the nation exported only 230,000 tonnes of rubber in the first five months, it recorded a double increase in revenue, to 1 billion USD, thanks to the world’s rubber export prices reaching 4,383 USD per tonne.

Despite a drop in volume, the five-month pepper and cashew nuts export value fetched 393 million USD and 293 million USD, respectively.

Meanwhile, seafood exports fetched almost 2.1 billion USD in the first five months of the year, a year-on-year rise of 27.3 percent, with Japan, the US, the Republic of Korea (RoK) and the European Union (EU) being Vietnam’s key importers.

Also in the first five months of the year, Vietnam imported almost 6 billion USD worth of raw materials for agro-forestry and fisheries production./.