It's just the beginning of the year, but the export value of Vietnam's goods has skyrocketed compared to the same period last year and many businesses have had large export contracts. This good sign promises a bumper year with expectations that export turnover in 2024 will increase by over 6 percent compared to last year.

At the beginning of the year, many Vietnamese agricultural and food product groups received more orders from many global buyers. For instance, seven Vietnamese enterprises won 10/17 bidding packages to supply over 300,000 tons of rice to Indonesia. Enterprises are also continuing to participate in other Indonesian bidding packages as the country has announced plans to continue importing 2 million tons of rice in 2024.

In addition, Korea has given Vietnam a total quota of 55,000 rice tons. Particularly in the Philippine market, Vietnam has signed a memorandum of understanding to sell 1.5-2 million tons of rice per year for 5 years. This good news immediately aroused excitement amongst farmers in the Mekong Delta region. Right after the Tet holiday (the Lunar New Year), rice wholesale began to be exciting.

In An Giang and Dong Thap provinces, prices of rice varieties including Taiwanese fragrant rice fluctuate at VND9,300- VND9,500 while rice varieties including OM 18, OM 5451, Nang Hoa are priced at VND9,200-VND9,400 per kg.

Currently, the Mekong Delta provinces have well complied with the sowing schedule to avoid drought and saltwater intrusion, so the rice fields promise a bumper harvest with an estimated output of over 10.6 million tons of rice in this winter-spring crop.

Along with the rice commodity group, durian is also a favorite agricultural fruit for export. In Tien Giang, right after the Lunar New Year, durian was purchased by traders at high prices; for instance, Mongthon durian variety fetches VND180,000-VND200,000 a kg and Ri6 at VND140,000-VND160,000 a kg.

According to owner Luong Thanh Tam of a durian garden in Cai Lay District of Tien Giang Province, this is the highest price in the past two years, gardeners can earn a profit of more than VND1.8 billion a hectare. Hundreds of durian farming households in Cai Be, Tan Phuoc districts of Tien Giang Province, Phong Dien District of Can Tho City, and Giong Rieng District of Kien Giang Province are focusing on fertilizing, watering, and preventing salinity so that their durian fruit can grow well and achieves high yield in the next harvest.

Elsewhere, people in the Central Highlands region are earning good profits after they have sold coffee, vegetables and fruits of all kinds at the highest prices. Deputy Director Doan Manh Trinh of Tam Trinh Coffee Import-Export Company in Lam Dong Province excitedly said that from the beginning of 2024 until now, he has exported and sold nearly 3,000 tons of coffee, worth about VND300 billion. At this time, a kg of coffee is being purchased at about VND70,000-VND80,000.

Coffee exports at the beginning of the year had good prices because businesses have followed organic coffee production and building traceability of origin and raw material areas.

In addition, businesses have proactively sought markets, so they practiced cultivation according to the standards of exporting countries; as a result, they have stable markets. Coffee products grown in the Central Highlands region are displayed in 64 countries and territories globally, said Director Pham Van Binh of the Department of Industry and Trade of Gia Lai Province.

Deputy Director Hoang Khanh Duy of the Management Board of Dong Dang Border Gate Economic Zone said that during the past Tet holiday, more than 12,800 tons of Vietnamese agricultural products and fruits were exported to the Chinese market through the border gates in Lang Son Province. From February 18 until now, all 7 border gates in Lang Son have returned to normal operation, doing customs clearance procedures for about 400 trucks of goods every day.

In the Northwest region, border gates in Lao Cai Province worked relentlessly during the Tet holidays due to the increase in export volume. Subsequently, the export turnover through Kim Thanh International Border Gate No. 2 during the Tet holiday increased by 391 percent compared to the same period in 2023, the division of the Lao Cai Border Gate Customs informed.

Deputy Director of the Import-Export Department Tran Thanh Hai forecast that by January 2024, agricultural, forestry and fishery exports have generally reached $ 5.14 billion, an increase of 79.2 percent against the same period last year. However, this year the global economy is forecast to continue to be difficult.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Phan Thi Thang shared that the ministry will strengthen a series of solutions to promote import and export in 2024 such as continuing to negotiate, sign agreements, commitments, and new trade connections with other potential partners to diversify markets, products, and supply chains. The Ministry of Industry and Trade will also coordinate with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to negotiate with China to permit exports of other fruits and vegetable products and regulate customs clearance speed at border gates in the North.

In addition, responsible agencies will work hard to remove trade defense barriers set up by importing countries while requesting the United States to recognize Vietnam as a country with a market economy to facilitate the country's export of goods to the US market.

According to Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan, climate change, market fluctuations and changes in world consumption trends have been negatively impacting the export industry of Vietnam in general and agricultural products in particular. Therefore, it requires businesses, people, managers and scientists to cooperate more closely to meet the increasingly strict barriers, quality, food safety and hygiene of the market.

In addition, producers must ensure compliance with community responsibility in environmental protection by minimizing the use of chemical-derived inputs and reducing emissions. For that reason, the Vietnamese government has approved the Project for sustainable development of 1 million hectares specializing in high-quality rice cultivation with low emissions associated with green growth in the Mekong Delta until 2030.

The project aims to reorganize the production system along the value chain, application of sustainable farming processes to increase value, sustainable development of the rice industry, and improving production and business efficiency, income and life of rice growers.

Source: SGGP