Hanoi (VNA)🦩 - The agricultural sector will need to focus on key products with high export potential to compensate for products that are not expected to meet the yearly export turnover target.

According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), the total export value of agro- agro-forestry-aquatic products reached 24.6 billion USD in the first 6 months of 2023, down 11% year-on-year and accounting for more than 45% of 54 billion USD targeted for 2023. In the context that many key agricultural products are facing difficulties in the global market, the agricultural industry is still expected to achieve its target this year.

Exports of vegetables, fruit and rice grow strongly

According to MARD, in the first 6 months of 2023, the main agricultural product group reached a turnover of 12.8 billion USD, an increase of 12% year-on-year. Livestock products increased by more than 26% to 232 million USD. For the first time, fruit and vegetable exports registered a record turnover of more than 1 billion USD, a 2.7-fold against the same period last year. Notably, in the first 6 months, the value of durian exports increased 18-fold year-on-year. Sharing the highlights of the export sector in the first 6 months, Director of the Department of Crop Production under MARD Nguyen Nhu Cuong said that with a focus on improving quality and enhancing product processing to add value, fruit and vegetable exports may achieve the export target of 10 billion USD. Along with vegetables and fruit, rice posted impressive growth, bringing in 2.3 billion USD in the first 6 months, an increase of nearly 35% in value year-on-year. Investment in processing over 80% of high-quality and fragrant rice output for export to demanding markets has helped improve the competitiveness of Vietnamese rice.

Focus on key products

To achieve the export target of 54 billion USD this year, Director of the Planning Department under MARD Nguyen Van Viet said that it is necessary to focus on promising key products. This will allow the industry to compensate for the products that are not expected to meet the yearly export target. Accordingly, the main agricultural products need to reach an export value of 25 billion USD. Forestry products and wooden furniture need to hit 17 billion USD, seafood 10 billion USD, and other items chip in with another 3 billion USD. In the time to come, MARD will bring potential agricultural products, such as fresh coconuts to the United States, mangoes and dragon fruits to Japan, and at the same time, it will discuss with the General Department of Customs of China to remove obstacles relating to Vietnam’s export. They also plan to coordinate with the EU inspection team to evaluate the food safety control system for Vietnamese seafood. MARD will continue to promote trade activities targeting new markets where the middle class is increasing. These include potential markets such as India, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Eastern Europe, and markets that are less affected by inflation and have positive growth like ASEAN countries./.