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Vietnam revises farm export target to $23 bil
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has upped its forecast for agricultural exports this year to $23 billion following the sector’s robust performance in the first quarter.
At the start of this year set, it had set the target at $19.5 billion, just marginally up from last year, but the revised target represents a 20 percent hike.
Rice is expected to fetch $3.1 billion-3.5 billion; seafood, $5.8 billion; rubber, more than $3 billion; coffee, $2.6 billion; and cashew, $1.4 billion.
Seafood exports in January-March rose to $1.1 billion, 22 percent up year on year. In April, soon after the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors decided to raise the floor price of tra catfish exported to the EU and the US market, the ministry revised its target to $5.8 billion, up $800 million from last year.
The Tra export target has been hiked by $300 million to around $2 billion.
With the 2010-11 global coffee harvest in February being poor, stocks have decreased sharply, pushing up the composite price index by 75.1 percent.
Thus the ministry is optimistic about exports, forecasting shipments of 1.2 million tons valued at $2.6 billion. It had earlier set a target of $2 billion.
Vietnam's rubber output could reach 780,000-790,000 tons, up 4 percent due to the expanded rubber growing area, according to Reuters.
In the first quarter 179,000 tons were exported - 5,000 tons higher than forecast -- for $798 million, up by 48 percent and 50 percent in terms of quantity and value.
The full year's forecast for export volumes has been increased by around 70,000 tons to 830,000 tons, and value by $700 million to $3 billion.
Pepper prices too have increased sharply due to erratic and heavy rains at the end of 2010 and pests in most large producing countries like Indonesia, Brazil, India, and Sri Lanka.
Vietnam's exports in Q1 fell by 16.5 percent in terms of volume but increased 12 percent in value. The export price doubled from a year earlier to $4,450 per ton of black pepper and $6,950 for white pepper.
vietnamnet, Tuoi Tre
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