The export turnover of agro-forestry-fisheries products is estimated to gross more than 27.5 billion USD this year, a year-on-year increase of 9.7 percent, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) reported on December 25.

Of the total, key export staples accounted for over 16.9 billion USD, with coffee, pepper and tea maintaining a stable growth during the year.

The country shipped 1.76 million tonnes of coffee abroad, worth 3.74 billion USD, a rise of 40 percent in volume and 36 percent in value over the previous year.

The US and Germany are two largest importers of Vietnam’s coffee with 12 percent of market share each. Meanwhile, Indonesia posted a sudden growth of 5.6 times in both volume and value compared to the previous year.

Pepper export is estimated at 118,000 tonnes, valued at 802 million USD, down 4.3 percent in volume, but up 9.6 percent in value.

Vietnam remains the world’s number one cashew nut exporter with 223,000 tonnes of nuts being shipped during the year, bringing home 1.48 billion USD. The figures represented a year-on-year rise of 25.4 percent in volume and 0.7 percent in value.

The US , China and the Netherlands are Vietnam’s largest pepper markets.

According to the MARD, the country exported more than 8 million tonnes of rice for 3.7 billion USD during the year, a rise of 14 percent in volume and 2.1 percent in value over last year. However, the prices of rice tended to reduce compared to the beginning of the year.

Meanwhile, the export of aquatic products is estimated at 6.15 billion USD, up 0.7 percent over 2011.

The US is still Vietnam’s top seafood importer, accounting for 19.5 percent of market share. It was followed by Japan with nearly 18 percent and the Republic of Korea with 8 percent.-VNA