Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien affirmed that from now until the end of 2024, there are only 4 months left but the agricultural sector will reach the finish line, setting the target of 2024 export turnover at 55 billion USD, GDP growth rate of 3.5%. Photo: TQ

Total export turnover of agricultural, forestry and fishery products in the first 8 months of 2024 reached 40.08 billion USD, import 28.28 billion USD, trade surplus 11.8 billion USD, up 68.4%. According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien, with this momentum, the agricultural sector will reach the target of 55 billion USD in export turnover in 2024, with a GDP growth rate of 3.5%.

The US, China, and Japan continue to be the three largest export markets for Vietnamese agricultural products.

According to the leader of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, despite many difficulties and challenges, agricultural, forestry and fishery exports in August 2024 reached 5.55 billion USD, an increase of 12.3% compared to August 2023. Of which, main agricultural products reached 2.99 billion USD, an increase of 22.6%; forestry products reached 1.45 billion USD, an increase of 4.7%; aquatic products reached 900 million USD, an increase of 5%. Livestock alone reached 46.5 million USD, a decrease of 4.8% and production inputs were 161 million USD, a decrease of 23%.

In the first 8 months of 2024, most commodity groups increased, so export turnover increased, reaching 40.08 billion USD, an increase of 18.6%. Contributing to this result were agricultural products of 21.32 billion USD, an increase of 24%; forestry products of 10.97 billion USD, an increase of 19.7%; Aquaculture 6.23 billion USD, up 7.6%; livestock 324 million USD, up 0.3%. Production input alone was 1.23 billion USD, down 6.8%.

Export turnover of key products were all higher than the same period in 2023, such as: Wood and wood products reached 10.24 billion USD, up 20.6% over the same period last year; vegetables and fruits reached 4.63 billion USD, up 30.6% over the same period last year. Vietnam exported 1.05 million tons of coffee with a turnover of 4.03 billion USD, down 11.9% in volume but up 36.1% in value. In the aquatic products group, shrimp exports brought in 2.41 billion USD, up 9.5% over the same period last year; tra fish reached 1.2 billion USD, up 8.2% over the same period last year.

In terms of markets, the US, China and Japan continue to be the three largest export markets for Vietnamese agricultural products. Of which, the US accounted for 21.4% of the total in the first 8 months of 2024, an increase of 23.5% over the same period last year; China accounted for 20.4%, an increase of 10.2% over the same period last year and Japan accounted for 6.7%, an increase of 4.6% over the same period last year.

To achieve the above export scale, Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien said: Restructuring our agricultural sector has gone in the right direction according to Strategy 150/QD-TTg in 2022 issued by the Prime Minister. At the same time, each sector has its own strategy, forestry has Strategy 523, livestock has Strategy 1520, aquaculture has Strategy 339 and cultivation has Strategy 1748. Thus, the whole sector has a strategy to implement projects.

“In all areas, we have strategies and in each strategy, there are projects. These projects are all built on the basis of summarizing the entire restructuring process and we have launched projects on the right track,” Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien affirmed.

According to the Deputy Minister, the world's complex difficulties are actually opportunities. We have grasped, operated and penetrated deeply into markets, for example, the US is still the number 1 market, accounting for about 21%; China over 20%. In addition, Japan, Europe, the Philippines, South Korea... are still markets with a lot of potential and advantages for Vietnamese agricultural products.

"With the current export scale, from now until the end of the year, the agricultural sector will soon reach the target of export turnover in 2024 of about 54 - 55 billion USD, achieving a GDP growth rate of 3.5%," Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien commented.

Among the main exported fruit and vegetable products, durian is still at the top of the export list.

How to reach the 2024 export turnover target early?

Sharing with reporters of Dan Viet Electronic Newspaper about solutions to promote the export of agricultural, forestry and fishery products from now until the end of 2024, Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien said: In the last months of the year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will promote the development of domestic consumption and export markets, continue to handle market issues to create favorable conditions for the export of agricultural and fishery products, especially the markets of China, the United States, the EU, the Eurasian Economic Union...;

At the same time, take advantage of international trade agreements, especially the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) to promote the export of key agricultural, forestry and fishery products, and support businesses in signing new export orders.

According to the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, in addition to large, key markets such as China, the US, Japan, and the EU, the agricultural sector is also actively coordinating with businesses to open new markets with great potential such as: Halal Muslim countries, the Middle East, Africa, etc.

In addition, Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien affirmed: The agricultural sector will continue to implement synchronous solutions including: Focusing on disbursing public investment; strengthening animal disease prevention and protection of fields; Synchronously deploy science and technology tasks in all fields such as irrigation, natural disaster prevention, forestry, animal husbandry, cultivation, veterinary medicine, plant protection, etc.

"At the same time, we continue to improve deep processing capacity, focus on building brands so that Vietnamese agricultural products have real value in the international market; promote trade promotion, introduce advantageous agricultural products; continue to promote restructuring of the agricultural sector according to Strategy 150...

These are fundamental solutions to promote the entire agricultural sector to reach the 2024 finish line and create a premise for the following years", Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien emphasized.

Speaking more about the Chinese market, the leader of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said that recently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam and the General Department of Customs of China have officially signed 3 important protocols, paving the way for the export of fresh coconut, frozen durian and crocodile to the Chinese market.

According to the Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien, with frozen durian, we have a very large volume and the value of durian exported to China is also very high. We have raw material areas, varieties, artificial processes, addresses of packaging facilities... Frozen durian officially exported to the Chinese market will certainly strengthen the capacity of this fruit in Vietnam.

Second, with coconut products, with an area of ​​199,100 hectares, an output of 2 million tons, this is also an industry with great potential.

Third, with crocodiles, the Mekong Delta region has great potential and advantages in developing crocodile farming. This is also an easy-to-raise animal, can take advantage of discarded animal-based foods, but can be produced into high-value crocodile meat and skin products.

"Frozen durian, fresh coconut, crocodile, along with other exported agricultural products, will help us increase the scale and total turnover in the Chinese market," the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development emphasized.

Source: Dan Viet Newspaper