HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam gained a year-on-year increase of 7.6 per cent in total export value of agro, forestry and fishery products in the first quarter of this year to US$7.6 billion.

This included $2.9 billion in March, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Of the total figure for Q1, export value of main farming products reached $4.2 billion, a year-on-year surge of 13.5 per cent.

However, rice, a key farming product, still faced difficulty in export during the first quarter. The country exported 1.28 million tonnes, earning $566 million. Exports dropped by 18.1 per cent in volume and 17.3 per cent in value year-on-year.

Meanwhile, coffee exports increased sharply in value, although volume fell over the same period last year, the ministry said. Coffee exports in the first three months of this year saw a year-on-year increase of 25.6 per cent in value to reach $1 billion but witnessed a year-on-year decrease of 5.4 per cent in volume to 449,000 tonnes.

There were many export markets for Vietnamese coffee, which led to the strong growth in export value, including South Korea (up 79.3 per cent), the United States (60 per cent), Algeria (50.1 per cent) and Spain (33.6 per cent), as well as Germany (28.8 per cent), the United Kingdom (27.4 per cent), Japan (21 per cent) and Italy (20.2 per cent).

The ministry said rubber exports also increased strongly in value during the first quarter of the year. The domestic rubber industry exported 249,000 tonnes of rubber, earning $510 million, a increase of 1.9 per cent in volume and 90.6 per cent in value on the corresponding period last year.

China, South Korea and Malaysia were the three largest export markets of Vietnamese rubber products in January and February, the ministry said.

In the first three months of the year, the domestic forestry industry witnessed strong growth in the export of wood and wooden products. Export value of wood and wood products reached $1.7 billion, up 13 per cent over the same period of last year.

Việt Nam’s seafood export value in the first quarter of 2017 reached $1.5 billion, up 3.6 per cent year-on-year, including $537 million in March, the ministry said.

Japan, the United States, South Korea and China were the four largest export markets of Vietnamese seafood products in the first two months of 2017, accounting for 51.6 per cent of the total seafood export value. — VNS