July 30, 2010

Vietnam's agricultural exports rise 14%

Vietnam's agricultural, forest and seafood exports totalled US$10.13 billion in the first seven months of the year, a 14% increase on-year, said the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Export value has increased by US$300 million in July over the previous month to US$1.53 billion.

Due to an increase of export prices, all farming, forest and seafood products registered export growths against the same period of last year, noted the director of the ministry's Informatics and Statistics Centre, Nguyen Viet Chien.

In the first seven months, seafood exports saw an increase of 11.6% to US$2.45 billion, according to Chien. Shrimp lead in export value at US$717 million, accounting for 35% of the total. Tra and basa catfish exports followed with a value of US$650 million.

Most agricultural exports remained unprocessed products that were susceptible to fluctuating prices on the world market, added Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Thanh Bien.