Fruit-vegetable surpasses crude oil in export earnings

The export value of fruit and vegetable in the first four months of 2018 has exceeded earnings from crude oil for the first time ever. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – The export value of fruit and vegetable in the first four months of 2018 has exceeded earnings from crude oil for the first time ever, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Fruit and vegetables brought home 1.32 billion USD in the period, up nearly 30 percent year-on-year.

Exports of agro-forestry-fishery products in the first four months of the years also saw a year-on-year surge of 11.9 percent, estimated at 12.3 billion USD.

The country raked in 6.5 billion USD from exports of main agricultural products, 2.4 billion USD from seafood and 2.7 billion USD from main forestry products, up 11.9 percent, 13 percent and 7.9 percent from the same time last year, respectively.

During the period, the country shipped 2.16 million tonnes of rice abroad, earning 1.1 billion USD, year-on-year increases of 21.7 percent in volume and 37.7 percent in value.

China continued to be the largest importer of Vietnamese rice when it purchased 411,600 tonnes, or 29.1 percent of the rice market share.

In the January-April period, cashew exports experienced sound expansion in terms of both volume and value. Some 103,000 tonnes of cashew were shipped abroad at a value of 1.04 billion USD, rising 23.1 percent in quantity and 31.9 percent in value from the same time last year. 

Earnings from coffee regained a slight rise of 0.4 percent to 1.3 billion USD despite an 18.1 percent increase in volume with 691,000 tonnes. Meanwhile, the export value of cassava went up 3.2 percent to 376 million USD in the period.

In a stark contrast, rubber and pepper saw their export values down of 21.4 percent and 33.2 percent, respectively.