Agro-forestry and fisheries exports were estimated at US$2.5 billion in June, bringing the total export value in the first half of this year to US$13.67 billion, up 14.5 percent over the same period last year. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development says that the growth was thanks to an increase in export volume, to make up for a decline in prices in most consumer markets. Exports of agricultural products were estimated at US$7.7 billion (up 9.6 percent); seafood at US$2.9 billion (up 10.6 percent) and forestry products at US$2.3 billion (up 22.9 percent). But all of seven key agricultural products, except pepper, have gone down in price. In the first two quarters of this year, Vietnam shipped 3.7 million tonnes of rice and earned US$1.7 billion, down 8.8 percent in volume and 13.5 percent in value. The average rice price was US$464 per tonne, down 5.7 percent. By far, China has been the largest importer of Vietnamese rice, followed by Malaysia, with import rising almost 20 percent compared to a year earlier. With the average coffee price of US$2,090 per tonne, US$94 lower than last year’s figure, the country exported 1.1 million tonnes of coffee worth US$2.3 billion in the first six months, a rise of 26.5 percent in volume and 20.4 percent in revenue. The two biggest import markets are Germany (accounting for 12.9 percent) and the US (12.5 percent), showing a steady growth in both volume and value. Notably, Indonesia’s imports of Vietnamese coffee increased by more than eight folds over the same period last year. The rubber price also fell by a staggering 30.5 percent against last year’s price. Around 70,000 tonnes of rubber worth US$220 million was exported in June, bringing the year-to-date total to 412,000 tonnes valued at US$1.3 million, up 42.5 percent in volume but down 0.3 percent in value. Although rubber exports rose sharply in many major markets, such as China (up 31.2 percent), Malaysia (three-fold), Taiwan (59.9 percent) and India (up 6.5 times) the rubber price hit at a record low. In the past six months, tea exports reached around 61,000 tonnes, and earned US$86 million, up 13.7 percent in volume and 9.9 percent in value. The average price was US$1,420 per tonne, slightly down by 1.2 percent. Cashew nut exports showed a year-on-year increase of 41.2 percent to 97,000 tonnes and 26.6 percent to US$666 million in revenue. Vietnam has become the largest cashew exporter in the world, with its main markets being the US (37.7 percent), China (26.3 percent) and the Netherlands (17.4 percent). Pepper is the sole farm product that saw an increase of 28.9 percent in price over last year. Exports in June were estimated at over 13,000 tonnes worth US$89 million, bringing the total export volume in six months to 73,000 tonnes worth US$494 million, up 4.3 percent in volume and 31.7 percent in value. Despite a decline in export volume in the two major markets of the US and Germany, export prices in other key export markets continued rising. Vietnam’s US$390 million export earnings from timber and wooden products in June raised the total export value in the last six months to US$2.2 billion, an increase of 23.8 percent. All its major import markets saw a high growth, especially the US (32.3 percent), China (35.3 percent) and Japan (25.5 percent). In the first half of this year, fisheries exports reached US$2.9 billion, 10.6 percent higher than last year’s, despite a decline in volume (26.4 percent in Germany), (10.9 percent in the Netherlands) and (16.3 percent in Italy). VOV