Agricultural, forestry and fishery exports were estimated at USD2.37 billion in May, raising the figure for the first five months to USD11.4 billion, down 7.3% year on year, according to the latest statistics released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Of this, the export value of major agricultural products posted USD5.62 billion, down 7.4% against the same period last year with the sharpest decline seen in rice and coffee. Specifically, rice volume for export in the five months hit 2.4 million tonnes, valued at USD1.05 billion, a 11.4% decrease in volume and a 14.6% drop in value over a year earlier.

During the period, about 578,000 tonnes of coffee were exported, worth USD1.2 billion, down 39.4% and 38% in volume and value, respectively.

In the same difficult situation to major agricultural products, seafood export value from the start of the year was estimated at USD2.41 billion. The US was the biggest seafood importer of Vietnamese produce, accounting for 19.55% of the country’s total export value. Exports to Japan also suffered a significant decrease at 11.3%.

Meanwhile, forestry commodities kept stable growth. Exports of wood and its products were valued at USD488 million in May 2015, bringing the figure from the start of the year to nearly USD2.56 billion, a year-on-year rise of 6.9%. The US, Japan and China were the top three export markets of Vietnam’s forestry in the first four months this year, making up 65.3% of the total./.

( Hoang Nguyen )