Minister Do Duc Duy: We cannot be subjective even though exports have exceeded 21 billion USD

Export activities in the first 4 months of 2025 continued to break through. The total export turnover of agriculture, forestry and fishery products in the first 4 months of the year reached 21.15 billion USD, up 10.7% over the same period in 2024.

Minister of Agriculture and Environment Do Duc Duy said that although growth in the first four months of the year was positive, without determination and strong, practical solutions, it would be very difficult to complete the targets for the whole year and the whole term. (Photo: Khuong Trung)

Minister Do Duc Duy emphasized that if the above growth momentum can be maintained and tariff obstacles with the United States are soon resolved, the export target of 65 billion USD and industry growth of about 4% this year is completely feasible.

Highest growth in recent years

On May 13, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment held a conference to review work in April and deploy key tasks for May and the second quarter of 2025.

Sharing at the conference, Mr. Duy said that in the past 4 months, fields such as cultivation, livestock and aquaculture have all had positive developments.

According to the report, the total added value of the agriculture, forestry and fishery sector in the first quarter of 2025 reached an increase of 3.74%, the highest compared to the same period in recent years and exceeding the Government's target in the quarterly growth scenario. Specifically, agriculture increased by 3.53%, forestry increased sharply by 6.67%, and fishery increased by 3.98%.

The stable growth rate of the three pillars of agriculture, forestry and fishery is a solid premise to achieve the growth targets of the second quarter, 6 months and the whole year.

Along with production growth, export activities continued to break through. The total export turnover of agriculture, forestry and fishery products in the first four months of the year reached 21.15 billion USD, up 10.7% over the same period in 2024. Of which, agricultural products reached 11.6 billion USD (up 11.7%), forestry products 5.56 billion USD (up 11.2%), aquatic products 3.09 billion USD (up 13.7%), livestock products 178 million USD (up 16.8%) and production inputs 722 million USD (up 20%).

The industry continued to maintain a trade surplus of 5.18 billion USD, although down slightly by 4.1% over the same period, it was still higher than the overall trade surplus of the economy (5.02 billion USD).

“If we can maintain this growth momentum and soon resolve tariff issues with the United States, the export target of 65 billion USD and industry growth of about 4% this year is completely feasible,” Minister Do Duc Duy emphasized.

In the field of public investment, the ministry has allocated VND20,786 billion for projects. As of May 5, the disbursement rate reached 16.3%, higher than the national average of 15.56%, demonstrating determination and close direction in implementing this key task.

Along with that, the administrative procedure reform work also recorded many positive results. The functional units of the Ministry received and processed 346,437 dossiers, with a completion rate of 97.6%. Regarding the implementation of Decree No. 35/2025/ND-CP of the Government, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has completed the consolidation of leadership positions, promulgated functions, tasks and organizational structures of 30 affiliated units.

Still has potential risks

However, Minister of Agriculture and Environment Do Duc Duy also noted that we cannot be subjective, because the world situation still has many potential risks from trade competition, conflicts of interest, and market fluctuations.

Urgent problems have also emerged domestically. First, quarantine problems have caused durian exports, which were valued at $3.2 billion in 2024, to show signs of slowing down, currently only reaching 20% ​​of the 2025 plan.

In addition, pests and diseases on crops and livestock are also complicated. Prolonged drought has caused many localities to face difficulties due to lack of irrigation water, leading to production impacts. The process of reorganizing local government also affects the implementation of the sector's tasks, especially the work of clearing land for irrigation projects.

Faced with the above reality, Mr. Duy suggested that units in the ministry need to seriously evaluate the achieved results, and at the same time frankly acknowledge the shortcomings and difficulties to propose specific and practical solutions to ensure the progress of tasks in May, the second quarter and the first 6 months of the year.

“We don’t have much time left. Without determination and strong, practical solutions, it will be very difficult to complete the targets for the whole year and the whole term,” the head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment emphasized.

In particular, in the context of the international situation continuing to be unpredictable, trade wars and increasing protectionist policies, Mr. Duy cited the Government's direction and emphasized the need to turn challenges into motivation to break through, be proactive in all situations, and more drastically implement key tasks in the second quarter of 2025.

In the first four months of 2025, the Agriculture and Environment sector grew by 3.74%. (Photo: VNA)

Accordingly, Minister Do Duc Duy requested the entire industry to thoroughly grasp the direction of the Central, National Assembly, and Government, and concretize it into daily and hourly tasks. “I say hourly, in the current context where we are running and queuing at the same time. There are times when we receive opinions from Government members in the morning and respond in the afternoon, so we are always ready to respond to work,” Mr. Duy added.

In that spirit, Mr. Duy stated the viewpoint of "no waiting, no delay" and requested units to strengthen discipline and improve management capacity, especially in the context of the world situation strongly affecting the domestic agricultural market and environment.

Turn difficulties into motivation

Referring to specific tasks and solutions for the coming time, Mr. Duy emphasized that the industry will have to successfully organize Party Congresses at all levels, towards the first Party Congress of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, term 2025-2030.

At the same time, the entire industry must ensure growth and export targets, remove difficulties in the summer-autumn crop market, and handle the impacts of US tax policies. Next, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment will focus on perfecting the legal system, ensuring the progress of draft laws, decrees, and circulars, especially building a two-tier local government model.

Along with that, Mr. Duy also emphasized the task of promoting digital transformation and administrative procedure reform, focusing on accelerating the progress of construction and completion of the National Land Information System, land database according to unified standards nationwide linked with the national population database before June 30, 2025; actively deploying digitalization of data on the agricultural and environmental sectors, creating a digital resource platform, towards developing the digital economy of the sector.

Regarding the disbursement of public investment capital, Mr. Duy requested that units in the whole industry need to speed up, including organizing a thematic conference at the end of May, in which the disbursement target is emphasized as a measure to evaluate the unit's efficiency.

Along with that, the ministry will continue to streamline the organization and apparatus, complete the 2025 staffing plan, develop the 2026 staffing plan, promptly resolve the regime for officials; strengthen inspection work, receive citizens, strictly handle violations; proactively conduct surprise inspections when there are signs of violations.

The agricultural and environmental sectors also identify the need to proactively implement tasks related to natural disaster prevention and climate change response.

“The challenges ahead are huge, but with unity, high determination and drastic actions, I believe the entire industry will continue to excellently complete the assigned tasks, making an important contribution to the sustainable development of the country, especially in the fields of agriculture and environment,” said Mr. Duy.

( According to https://www.vietnamplus.vn/bo-truong-do-duc-duy-khong-the-chu-quan-du-xuat-khau-da-vuot-21-ty-usd-post1038263.vnp )

Source: https://baoapbac.vn/kinh-te/202505/bo-truong-do-duc-duy-khong-the-chu-quan-du-xuat-khau-da-vuot-21-ty-usd-1042449/