Hanoi (VNA) – The agriculture sector is struggling to boost the export of key products in the second half of theyear amid dropping prices in the world market.

According to statisticsof the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, though the export revenue of agricultural products grew by 2.2 percent in the first sixmonths of 2019, the turnover of main currency earners, including rice, cassava, coffee and cashew, plunged9.2 percent.

Vietnam exported 3.39 milliontonnes of rice for 1.46 million USD in the January-June period, down 2.8 percent and 19 percent, respectively. Except for the Philippines, the country’s three majortraditional rice importing countries such as China, Indonesia and Bangladeshall imported less in the reviewed period. 

Additionally, the world’s rice prices will likely go down further this year as the US Department of Agriculture forecast the global rice production in 2018 – 2019 to reach 499.1 million tonnes, 4.2million tonnes higher than the previous year.

Exports of cassava and cassava products wereestimated at 1.2 million tonnes, worth 460 million USD, a year-on-year decrease of 19 percent in volumeand 15.3 percent in value, also due to the falling demand from China - Vietnam’s main market.

Prices ofVietnamese cassava and cassava products averaged 386.3 USD per tonne, down 2.91percent year on year. Cassava starch was fetched 425 USD per tonne in average,down 1.7 percent month on month and 15.2 percent year on year.

A similartrend was seen in coffeeexports in the first six month. The country shipped abroad 943,000 tonnes ofcoffee for 1.6 billion USD, down 9.2 percent in volume and 19.9 percent invalue from the same period last year. Germany and the US remained the twobiggest importers of Vietnamese coffee.

It isprojected that global and domestic coffee prices would slide in the short termbecause of oversupply in the world market.

The six-monthexport volume of cashew nuts amounted to 197,000 tonnes, 13.1 percent higher than a year earlier, but thevalue plummeted 11.3 percent year on year.

To get the export of agriculturalproducts back on the track, theMinistry of Agriculture and Rural Development considers shifting focus to seafoodand forestry products.

The  Institute for Policy and Strategy forAgriculture and Rural Development (IPSARD) suggested farmers to switch areas ofunproductive rice cultivation to farming other crops or aquaculture as rice exports do not have much room togrow in the global market like fruit crops or aquatic products. Many of Vietnam’s major buyers are nowable to produce enough rice for domestic demand and even for export in recentyears.

Not only the fluctuations of the global prices have affected Vietnam’sagricultural product exportsbut also the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-PacificPartnership (CPTPP), which officially went into force. The trade deal strips 98percent of tariffs for 11 member countries with a combined GDP of more than13.5 trillion USD and close to 500 million consumers.

To seizeopportunities the agreement would bring, Vietnamese producers must activelyexplore Vietnam’s commitments and requirements of other member states. Theyshould also think outside the box and take advantage of competition to createmotivation for innovation and development.

In addition,Vietnamese enterprises need to seek cooperation with partners from the CPTPP member countries in order to attractnew source of investment and advanced technologies, and more importantly,engage deeper in the regional and global supply chain.–VNA