The agricultural and fishery export to be self-confident in reaching US$ 41 billion

With good growth during the first half of the year, the export of agricultural, forestry and fishery products is expected to achieve a strong and breakthrough growth in the second half, helping the whole industry to confidently earn US$ 40-41 billion in 2018.

Rice is an item with the highest growth rate in the first half of this year. Picture: collected.

Exports increased by 12%

According to the latest information from MARD, the export turnover of the whole industry was estimated at US$ 19.4 billion in the first half of the year, up 12% over the same period in 2017. In particular, the export value of agricultural products was estimated at US$ 10.3, up 9.7%; the forestry products were estimated at US$ 4.33 billion, up 12.7%; the fishery products were estimated to reach US$ 3.94 billion, up 10.5% over the same period in 2017. The trade surplus of the industry reached US$ 3.9 billion, up over 13% over the same period last year.

How did the exports of agricultural, forestry and aquaculture products gain such brilliant results?

In this regard, Mr. Nguyen Van Viet, Director of Planning Department of MARD said that ‘the whole sector had concentrated on implementing many solutions in the first 6 months of the year, such as improving the business environment, enhancing the competitiveness of goods and products; promoting the trade promotion activities, removing the trade barriers, expanding the export markets; organizing many activities linking supply and demand, linking the value chain of agricultural products; organizing the safe agricultural and food fairs, and promoting communication... Thanks to that, consumption and export of agricultural products increased sharply’.

Notably, in addition to the traditional export items and markets, the MARD has focused on removing bottlenecks to promote the export of beef and dairy products to the Malaysian market; Pork, chicken, eggs into Singapore; Pork, milk, aquatic products, rice into China; Negotiated to open the market for chicken exports into Japan, star fruit into the United States, rambutan into New Zealand, passion fruit into the EU...

Mr. Viet acknowledged that despite positive results, the market for agricultural products had changed, but in general it was still weak. The supply and demand forecasts were still inadequate. So in some cases, the situation of agricultural products had been stagnant: the consumption was slow; the prices were falling, and especially at the time of harvesting the main crop, it affected the production, income and living standard of the people, or lack of supply made the price increase. Besides the processing industry, the preservation industry of agricultural products and the auxiliary industries had been improved gradually. A number of large corporations invested in processing (8 vegetable and fruit factories were inaugurated this year), but it was still slow to meet the demand for large commodity production. In addition, the losses after harvesting were high, the deep-processing products accounted for a low proportion, the product prices depended on the harvest…

Focus on market solutions

According to Mr. Viet, it was forecasted that the export market would continue to be expanded in the last 6 months, the prices would be stable. It was likely that the export volume would increase due to increasing demand in the international markets. The forecast of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) showed that the global rice trade continued to rise, the tropical fruits would increase sharply, the world demand for seafood would increase in 2018... From these factors, it was forecasted that the agricultural export would continue to grow higher than the first half by the second half of the year (over 12%) and export turnover would reach US$ 40 to 41 billion in 2018.

To achieve the targeted objectives, the MARD has determined to continue restructuring the sector, improve the productivity and quality of agricultural products and the production and business efficiency; review and evaluate continuously the advantages and potentials to build a product structure in three product axes being suitable to the market demand and adaptation to the climate change, including: National key product groups; Provincial Product Groups and Village/Commune Special Groups for specific guidance...

Surrounding this issue, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong, emphasized that one of the solution groups which must be focused upon was the market. Vietnam's production of agricultural products was good, but the decisive factor was the market. In the first half of the year, the agricultural sector focused on a number of specific solutions to remove the difficulties of the market, including market expansion, market exploitation as well as market arrangements. From now to the end of the year, the solutions should be focused more and more. "Specifically, the ministries including the MARD and the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) must strengthen their external market development in pursuit of the Prime Minister's direction, not only in the traditional and strong markets such as the EU, US and Japan. China..., but also must target new segments of the market with potential, such as ASEAN, India... This serves the general commodity strategy of Vietnam including the agricultural market not only in 2018 but also in the next years,” said Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong.

Mr. Viet added that in addition to market development, the MARD will also focus on negotiating to remove the trade barriers; Implement trade remedies and technical barriers in line with international commitments, negotiating and signing the mutual recognition agreements in quarantine, plant protection, food hygiene and safety. The MARD decided to continue efforts to resolve the “yellow card” issue by the European Commission (EC) against Vietnamese fishing; continue solving the problems about the US Farmbill Act for the “tra” fish; promoting the export of chicken (Japan, the Netherlands); Exporting livestock products to China in formal transportation; promoting the export of pepper into India, mango into the United States…