The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has forecast export prospects for some agricultural products in 2012. Accordingly, although both volume and value are equivalent to that of 2011, due to impacts from the world’s market, exports of agricultural products are forecast to be stable this year.

 

For rice exports, MARD reported that the volume of exported rice in 2012 will possibly fluctuate around 6.8-7.3 million tonnes.

 

Volume of exported rice is forecast to drop in the world’s two largest rice markets of Vietnam and Thailand in 2012. In separate, Vietnam will see a reduction of 300,000 tonnes in volume of rice for exports while Thailand’s volume will increase about 2.5 million tonnes.

 

The volume of rice of some major importers in the world is also forecast to fall sharply. In particular, rice imports of Indonesia will reach 1 million tonnes this year, much lower than the figure of 2.77 million tonnes from 2011.

 

For coffee exports, MARD forecast export turnover will only reach more than USD 2 billion in 2012. The result is due to a reduction trend in the world’s prices and domestic output this year will be lower than that of last year.

 

For rubber exports, according to forecasts by MARD, the volume of exported rubber in 2012 will likely reach more than 880,000 tonnes, higher than the rate of 846,000 tonnes of 2011. However, the figure is only equivalent to a value of more than USD 2.1 billion.

 

According to MARD, rubber demand is expected to continue to rise in 2012. Of which, demand for synthetic rubber increased 5 percent in 2011 and will rise 9 percent in 2012. Demand for natural rubber saw a slower increase rate with 3.8 percent in 2011 and the increase rate will be 5.4 percent in 2012.

 

For cashew exports, MARD forecast volume of cashew nuts for exports in 2012 will post more than 200,000 tonnes with a value of USD 1.75 billion, bringing increases of 178,000 tonnes and USD 1.5 billion, respectively from 2011.

 

Other agricultural products such as tea and seafood products are forecast to continue to be stable and even rise in 2012. In particular, according to MARD, tea exports in 2012 will likely see a rise in volume with an estimated 140,000 tonnes (131,000 tonnes of last year) but a slight decrease in value with USD 190 million (USD 198 million of last year).

 

Seafood exports in 2012 will continue to increase with an estimated USD 6.6 billion in export turnover, higher than the rate of USD 6,1 billion of 2011.

 

 

(CPV)