Vietnam's farming, seafood exports up a third over last year

29/03/2011
Source: Monsters and Critics

Hanoi - Vietnam's exports of farming, seafood and forestry products saw a 33.3-per-cent increase in revenues, reaching 5.4 billion dollars in the first quarter of 2011, officials said Tuesday.

Almost all exports in those sectors gained in value in the first quarter compared with the same three months of last year, government-run Viet Nam News quoted Nguyen Viet Chien, an official from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, as saying.

Exports of farming products rose by 56.2 per cent to 3.4 billion dollars, and seafood products were up 22 per cent to 1.1 billion dollars. Forestry products rose 1.2 per cent to 809 million dollars.

Rice exporters saw a rise in value of 2.9 per cent, earning the country 823 million dollars.

However, the sector could face problems as wheat exports on the world market recover, Chien said.

Vietnam's top rice buyer is the Philippines, which recently signed a contract to receive 200,000 tons of Vietnamese rice at 450 dollars per ton.