Vietnam is coping with rising pressure this year as exports of many of its key products have encountered challenges in many markets in recent months, said Minister of Planning and Investment Bui Quang Vinh.

Speaking at a session of the National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee in Hanoi on May 11, Vinh said farm produce exports have been falling over the past two months.

In a recent visit to China, Vietnamese Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong discussed rice exports with Chinese leaders. However, China said it had a food oversupply but was still importing Vietnamese rice due to low prices.

China regulated that enterprises must buy 1,000 tons of Chinese rice to get an import quota for 10,000 tons of rice. This is one reason behind backlogs of Vietnamese rice at Lao Cai Province’s border gates with China, he said.

According to a report by the Government, the agro-aqua-forestry growth of 2.14% in the first quarter of this year was lower than 2.68% in the same period of 2014.

Vietnam’s trade deficit with China was estimated at US$8.1 billion in the first quarter of this year but was somewhat eased by a trade surplus with other markets. In the first three months, Vietnam reported a trade deficit of US$1.8 billion, or 5.1% of its total export revenue.

The foreign-invested sector enjoyed a trade surplus of around US$919 million (excluding crude oil) and nearly US$2 billion (including crude oil) while domestic enterprises caused a trade deficit of nearly US$3.8 billion.

Chairman of the NA Economic Committee Nguyen Van Giau expressed concern over many challenges ahead.

Vietnam’s 5% broken rice price dropped from US$413.8 per ton in the last quarter of 2014 to US$362.9 per ton in the first quarter of 2015, crude oil down from US$74.6 to US$51.6 a barrel, and tea from US$2.64 to US$2.44 per kilo, according to a report of the committee.

Other members of the committee were also concerned that the trade deficit expanded to US$3 billion in the first four months of 2015, or 6% of the total export value, well above the 5% target approved by the NA. Farm produce and seafood export drops were attributed to the deficit.

Besides, Vietnam was heavily dependent on imports from one or two markets. Earlier, the nation reported a trade surplus for three years in a row.

Between January and April, the domestic sector ran a trade deficit of US$5.7 billion, higher than US$3.8 billion in the first four months of last year. Foreign-invested firms posted a trade surplus of US$2.7 billion (including crude oil), lower than US$5.8 billion in the year-ago period.

Export growth slowed to 6.4% compared to the nation’s target of 10%.