Agro-forestry-fisheries posts 7.9 bln USD trade surplus

Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) - The agro-forestry-fishery sector posted a trade surplus of over 7.9 billion USD in the first ten months of this year, up 10.7 percent year-on-year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has reported.

Exports were estimated at 33.6 billion USD, up 1.1 percent year-on-year, while imports reached nearly 25.6 billion USD, down 1.5 percent.

In October alone, total export turnover rose 4.2 percent against September, to around 3.8 billion USD.

Despite COVID-19, several farm produce items earned higher export revenue year-on-year, including rice, vegetables, cassava, shrimp, wood, and wooden and bamboo products.

Coffee, rice, cashew nuts, fruit and vegetables, shrimp, and wooden furniture joined the 2 billion USD export club, while eight other categories of goods each earned more than 1 billion USD.

Sectors posting a decline in export value include pepper, down 15 percent, fruit 18.5 percent, and tra fish over 21 percent.

The US remained Vietnam’s largest export market, with about 8.6 billion USD, up 20 percent annually and accounting for around 25.6 percent of the market share. It was followed by China, with 8.2 billion USD, down 7.8 percent and making up 24.3 percent of the market share, ASEAN, with 3.2 billion USD, and the EU with around 3.1 billion USD.

Between now and the end of the year, MARD will partner with other ministries, agencies, localities, and businesses to tackle trade difficulties, in particular promoting market regulations to boost farm produce trade amid new developments of the pandemic, focusing on major markets such as China, the EU, the US, Japan, and the Republic of Korea./.