Hanoi (VNA) – The agro-forestry-fishery sector raked in 3.55 billionUSD from exports in July, raising the total value in the first seven months ofthis year to 23.03 billion USD, up 2 percent year on year, the Ministry ofAgriculture and Rural Development has reported.

Major farm produce shipped overseas brought home10.84 billion USD, with five “billion dollar” good categories being coffee (1.8billion USD), rubber (1.1 billion USD), rice (1.73 billion USD), cashew (nearly1.8 billion USD), and vegetables and fruits (2.3 billion USD).

The ministry said export revenue of agricultural products fell 8.2 percentyear-on-year, and this was due to a drop in several products like cashew (20.6percent), pepper (25.2 percent), coffee (12 percent), and rice (16 percent).

The export prices of two main seafood exports, tra fish and shrimp, dropped 3.2percent and 10.4 percent to 1.16 billion USD and 1.73 billion USD, respectively,causing seafood export revenue dwindle 1 percent to 4.68 billion USD.

During January-July, shipments of main forestry products earned the countrynearly 6.01 billion USD, up 17.3 percent year on year, of which wood and woodenproducts contributed over 5.6 billion USD, up 16.1 percent, and bamboo andrattan products 264 million USD, soaring 46.6 percent.

According to the ministry, Vietnam spent 18 billion USD on foreignagro-forestry-fishery goods and agricultural materials.

As global economic growth is projected to fall while agricultural developmentwill bounce back in many countries, it will be hard for Vietnam’s agriculturalexports in the coming time, the ministry said.

Fierce competition will pull prices of exports down. Besides, large importersof Vietnam like the US, the EU, China, Japan and the Republic of Korea haveimposed strict standards on quality management, food safety and hygiene, andorigin traceability on agricultural imports.

The ministry will work with businesses and associations to keep a close watch onthe development of the markets, as well as enhance inspection on smuggling inthe domestic market.

Besides coordinating with competent ministries and sectors to stabilisetraditional markets and expand potential ones, helping reduce dependence onsingle country, the ministry will give production guidance to localities toensure that their products meet importers’ requirements on origin traceabilityand geographical indication.

Furthermore, due attention will be given to developing brands for agriculturalproducts, particularly those exported to the Chinese market, while relevantauthorities will set up coordination mechanism with the Chinese GeneralAdministration of Customs so as to remove bottlenecks in the trading of agriculturalproducts between the two countries.-VNA