HANOI, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam is expected to earn over 20.6 billion U.S. dollars from exports of agro-forestry-fishery products in the first eight months of 2016, up 5.6 percent year-on-year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) said on Friday.
Among major agricultural export items in January-August period, exports of 3.37 million tons of rice are likely to rake in 1.51 billion U.S. dollars for Vietnam, down 16.6 percent in volume and 13.1 percent in value year-on-year.
China continues to be the largest consumer for Vietnamese rice with 36 percent of the market share in the period.
The country sold 1.04 million tons of rice to China, worth 476 million U.S. dollars, down 21.6 percent in volume and down 11.9 percent in value year-on-year, said the MARD.
Vietnamese rice export revenue witnessed a sharp decrease in such markets as the Philippines (down 66.4 percent year-on-year), Malaysia (54.5 percent), the United States (37.6 percent) and Singapore (36.3 percent) among others.
In eight-month period, the country is forecast to ship abroad some 1.27 million tons of coffee worth 2.25 billion U.S. dollars, up 39.9 percent in volume and 20.7 percent in value year-on-year.
Germany and the United States remained largest markets for Vietnamese coffee with respective market shares of 15 percent and 13.1 percent.
Meanwhile, the export revenue of Vietnamese wood and related products reached 4.3 billion U.S. dollars in the first eight months, down 0.6 percent year-on-year.
The United States, Japan and China are top three markets for Vietnamese wood and wood products, accounting for 68.3 percent of total export revenue.
Concerning seafood, the country also pockets 4.3 billion U.S. dollars from sale of seafood to world market, up 4.1 percent year-on-year.
The United States, Japan, China and South Korea are among major Vietnam's seafood importers, making up 53.2 percent of total export revenue.
Vietnam saw growth in seafood export revenue to China (up 53.9 percent year on-year), the U.S. (11.9 percent) and Thailand (9.9 percent) among others.
At the same time, the agro-forestry-fishery sector is estimated to spend 15.43 billion U.S. dollars on imports, down 0.3 percent year-on-year, said the ministry.
