Agro-forestry-aquatic product exports reach nearly US$19 billion in six months

Despite the complicated world economic situation due to the epidemic and extreme weather events, Vietnam’s export value of agricultural, forestry and aquatic products reached US$18.81 billion in the first half of 2020, a year-on-year decrease of only 3.4%, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

The combined export value of the main agricultural products was estimated at US$8.94 billion, down 2.7%; fishery, US$3.56 billion, down 8.6%; the main forest products, US$5.3 billion, up 2.7% and livestock products, US$190 million, down 19.4%.

The agricultural sector enjoyed a trade surplus of US$4.5 billion in the first six months of the year, US$339 million higher than the same period last year.

During the Jan-June period, 9 processing agro-forestry-aquatic projects with a total investment of over VND10 trillion (over US$432 million) were launched and put into operation.

According to the MARD’s assessment, the livestock industry has begun to show signs of recovery since African swine fever was brought under control.

In the first six months of the year, although the growth rate of pig herds and reproductive herds was still slow, large enterprises and livestock farms have been growing rapidly and are expected to meet market demand at the end of the third quarter of this year.

In addition, cow and poultry breeding continues to grow quite strongly. For the whole country, the cow herd increased by about 3.4% whilst the poultry population has developed well with an increase of about 7.4%.

The fishery sector also grew in the first half of 2020, with a total output of nearly 3.86 million tonnes, up 1.6% over the same period in 2019; of which, processed output reached 1.89 million tonnes.

Regarding forestry, the area of newly planted forestrt was estimated at 106,300 hectares, an increase of 0.2% over the same period last year and the output of processed timber was 7.53 million m3, an increase of 2%.

Forest protection and fire prevention has been paid special attention by all levels and sectors. As of June 24, 2020, there were 109 forest fires across the country, a reduction of 80, causing damage to 269 hectares of forest; while there were 5,545 cases of legal violations, down 17.6%.

The MARD has set a target of 2.5-3% growth for the last six months of 2020.