He said export outcomes in the first half of this year have created a foundation for the sector to realise the target.

Specifically, the total export turnover of agro-forestry-aquatic products in the first six months reached 29.2 billion USD, up 19% over the same period last year. Of the sum, the export value of main agricultural products stood at 15.76 billion USD (up 24.4%); key forestry products, 7.95 billion USD (up 21.2%); aquatic products, 4.36 billion USD (up 4.9%); and husbandry products, 240 million USD (up 3.8%).

Seven items and product groups posted an export value of over 1 billion USD, namely coffee, rubber, rice, fruits and vegetables, cashew nuts, shrimp, and wood products.

Rice and cashew nuts saw increases in both volume and value. Accordingly, rice exports hit 4.68 million tonnes (up 10.4%), with a turnover of 2.98 billion USD (up 32%); and cashew nuts reached 350,000 tonnes (up 24.9%), worth 1.92 billion USD (up 17.4%).

Coffee exports dropped by 10.5% in volume to 902,000 tonnes but increased by 34.6% in value to 3.22 billion USD as the average export price increased by 50.4%.

During the first half, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development focused on implementing projects to promote agro-forestry-aquatic product exports to key markets approved in late 2023, including China, the US, Japan and the EU. At the same time, the ministry worked to gain access to new, potential markets like Middle East and African countries.

Thanks to such efforts, the export value continued rising, with a trade surplus of 8.28 billion USD, up 62.4% year-on-year.

The five items with the highest trade surplus were wood and wood products (6.16 billion USD, up 22.5%); coffee (3.14 billion USD, up 36.2%); vegetables and fruits (2.42 billion USD, up 35.3%); rice (2.31 billion USD, up 27%); and shrimp (1.43 billion USD, up 13.3%)./.VNA