October 1, 2010

According to Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the agricultural export value reached US$14 billion in the first nine months of the year, surpassing the same period of last year by 22.3%.

Of the total, seafood accounted for US$3.47 billion - an increase of 14.2% against the previous year. Remaining agricultural exports totalled with an increase of 21.1% to US$7.2 billion.

The sector as a whole generated 27% of the nation's total export value in first nine months of the year, the ministry said. Nguyen Viet Chien, director of the ministry's Centre for Information and Statistics, said the increases were due both to high demand and rising global prices.

"Favourable conditions on world markets have made it likely that total agricultural export value would exceed US$16 billion by the end of the year," Chien said.