Farm exports on the rise despite demand fears

Despite concerns about the slump in demand for Vietnamese farm produce in traditional markets like China, the country's exports in the first seven months were worth 17.5 billion USD, an increase of 11.8 percent year on year.
Despite concerns about the slump in demand for Vietnamese farm producein traditional markets like China, the country's exports in the firstseven months were worth 17.5 billion USD, an increase of 11.8 percentyear on year.
According to figures from the Ministry ofAgriculture and Rural Development, major increases were reported in theexports of coffee, pepper, seafood, and wooden products. But other items like rice, rubber, tea, and cassava and its products have seen a slump due to a decline in exports to China. Many items have been sold to the EU, the US, Japan, and the Republic of Korea. Green-skinned pomelo and dragon fruit, for instance, have been shipped to 40 countries and territories around the world. Lastyear Vietnam exported around 326,000 tonnes of dragon fruit for over200 million USD. In the first quarter of this year prices of dragonfruit exported to Canada rose by nearly 16 percent from last year to2,300 USD per tonne. Nguyen Xuan Hong, Deputy Head of theMinistry of Agriculture and Rural Development's board for promotingexports of vegetables, flowers and fruits, said to maintain growth inexports of farm produce, local firms must look for new markets whilestrengthening relations with traditional markets through improvingquality by further investing in post-harvest technologies. "Local businesses should invest in advanced technologies for processing farm produce. "Forexample, they can build plants to produce ethanol from cassava and makewood products from shavings instead of importing them." New technologies have helped increase the value of produce. BinhDinh Fishery Joint Stock Company (Bidifishco) exported its first batchof ocean tuna to Japan on August 6. The company's director, Cao Thi KimLoan, said using advanced Japanese fishing technologies helped fishingvessels catch ocean tuna that meet Japanese market standards. Byapplying CAS technology (which helps preserve fruits for a year whileretaining quality), Luc Ngan district in the northern province of BacGiang has exported over 20 tonnes of lychee to Japan this year. Accordingto the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, exports of farmproduce, seafood, and forest produce accounts for nearly 20 percent ofthe country's total exports on average.-VNA

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