Vietnam’s agricultural, forestry, and fishery exports in the first half of this year reached nearly US$28 billion, a remarkable rise from a year earlier, with the U.S. being the biggest importer, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

In a recent report, the ministry said the total export value of the three categories amounted to about $27.88 billion in the year to June, registering a 13.9 percent increase from the same period last year, with the U.S. topping the list of major purchasers, followed by China and Japan. 

In bringing into play this encouraging export recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency has set a goal to earn a total export turnover of $55 billion for the whole 2022, translating to a $5 billion excess over the year’s target set by the government.

The export value of this year’s first half included some $11.37 billion from agricultural commodities (up 8.8 percent year on year), $9.1 billion from forest products (up three percent), $5.8 billion from aquatic items (up 40.8 percent), $176 million from livestock production (down 15.9 percent), and $1.42 billion from input materials for production (up 64.8 percent). 

Thanks to the recent expansion of export markets, nine export items saw their turnover higher than the same period last year, earning more than $1 billion each, including coffee, rubber, cashew nuts, vegetables, rice, tra fish, shrimp, wood products, and input materials for production.

Among these commodities, rubber, coffee, rice, cassava, and cassava products increased in both export volume and value, the ministry reported.

Along with the U.S., China, and Japan, South Korea was also among the biggest importers of Vietnam’s agro-forestry and fishery products.    

The export earnings from the U.S., the largest importer of agro-forestry-fishery products from Vietnam, reached $7.61 billion in the year’s first half, up 7.9 percent from a year earlier and accounting for 27.3 percent of Vietnam’s total export revenue from such commodities.

Wood and wooden products represented 66.8 percent of the imports to the U.S. from Vietnam, the ministry said.

China came second with about $4.97 billion spent on imports from Vietnam, up 5.9 percent year on year and making up 17.8 percent of the Southeast Asian country’s export turnover.

In order to achieve the aforementioned revenue goal of $55 billion, the ministry said it would take steps to boost the export earnings from key commodities as well as potential products to make up for other items that may see export values lag behind the set targets.

This ambitious amount is expected to include $25 billion from farm produce, $17 billion from forestry products and wooden items, $10 billion from seafood, and the rest from other commodities, the ministry elaborated.

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