June 2, 2011
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Vietnam seafood exports to rise in 2011
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Vietnam's agricultural and seafood exports are expected to surpass the revised target of US$23 billion in 2011, given the positive performance in the first five months of this year, said Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).
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In its report, the ministry said that the agricultural export values leaped 41.5% in the first five months of 2011 against the same period last year.
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Key export items saw robust growth in pivotal export markets. For instance, seafood exports rose 27.3% in value reaching US$2.1 billion, coffee up 43.8% in volume and 130% in value coming to US$1.8 billion.
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Vietnam is almost likely to surpass its whole-year export value target since the price hike tendency was forecast to linger until the year's end alongside steady world market demands.
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Particularly, seafood exports are expected to hit US$5.8-US$6 billion in 2011 compared to US$5 billion in 2010 thanks to soaring export prices.
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Despite a sharp growth in the export value, the agricultural sector's profit margins remain low and the growth is not yet sustainable, because Vietnam mainly exports raw materials which have a low added value and are heavily dependent on imported material sources.
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"Though export orders until the year end are multiple, businesses' greatest concern now is the increasingly scarce world material sources," said Vietnam Timber and Forest Product Association general secretary Nguyen Ton Quyen.
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Similarly, high lending rates and difficulties in accessing loans placed cashews businesses in competitive disadvantages of losing contracts to the hands of foreign rivals.
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Deputy Head Doan Xuan Hoa from the MARD's Agro-Forestry-Fishery Product Processing and Salty Industry Department attributed the agricultural sector's poor profit to low rates of processed items. As much as 90% of Vietnam's export agricultural products are in the form of preliminary processing with lower export prices compared to similar items from regional countries, Hoa said.
