Agricultural export prices set record

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), of the 18 export items earning over $1 billion in value of Vietnam six products were in the agricultural sector. They were seafood with $4.95 billion, forestry products and seafood $3.63 billion, rice $3.2 billion, rubber $2.3 billion, coffee $1.76 billion and pepper $1.1 billion.

The increased value did not match a sharp rise in export volume, with coffee even seeing a decline of 0.9 per cent compared to 2009. However, the export value of these products beat last year’s figures. For example, rubber saw a leap of around 94 per cent in export value, wooden furniture and cashews posted more than 30 per cent growth, rice 20 per cent and seafood 16.5 per cent as a result of surging export prices.

The price of rubber rose steadily throughout the year and currently fetches around $5,000 per tonne. Vietnam Rubber Group’s chairman Le Quang Thung said the price was a record because major rubber producing countries saw lean harvests. Meanwhile, the world market’s demand for rubber latex was escalating, particularly in China, India, Japan and South Korea to service auto tire manufacturers.

Similarly, the price of pepper and cashews sharply rose. In the first quarter of 2010 one tonne of pepper was sold for around $2,000, now it hits $5,000. That was because the world’s stock of pepper was modest by the year’s end amid soaring demand for the product in the lead up to the New Year.

The Vietnam Food Association adjusted rice’s floor export price seven times in 2010 and the price of 5 per cent broken rice now stands at $520 per tonne.

In 2011, the agricultural sector is set to achieve $19 billion in the export value, equal to 2010’s figure. The MARD forecasted a rising demand for agricultural, forest and seafood products from big markets such as the US, the EU and Japan and from several new markets in the Middle East and South Africa. However, it also warned the price of export agricultural products might fall in early 2011 as this time would be a harvest season in many countries worldwide.