Agricultural, forestry and fishery exports will recover positively

Reporter (PV): How does the Deputy Minister assess the export results of agriculture, forestry and fishery products in the first 5 months of 2023?

Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien: It must be affirmed that agricultural, forestry and fishery exports have had positive changes. This is shown by the numbers. As early as January 2023, compared to 2022, it decreased by over 68%. Of course, in January, we only had a very short working time, but in the second month, it also decreased by 38.4% and in the third month, it decreased by nearly 30%; in the fourth month, it decreased by 13.3% and by the end of May, it only decreased by 11.1%. The agricultural, forestry and fishery export figure that we have achieved is 20.26 billion USD.

If this trend continues, we expect that by the end of the third quarter, the export results of agricultural, forestry and fishery products may be equal to that of 2022, and in the fourth quarter, if we continue to promote with various solutions, we will reach the target of 55 billion USD in agricultural exports.

PV: In the export of agricultural, forestry and fishery products, there are some key items such as: shrimp, pangasius, wood and wood products, etc. What is the Deputy Minister's assessment of the prospects for acceleration of these items from now until the end of the year?

Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien: We have summarized the past 5 months and evaluated the markets and export subjects, showing that wood and non-wood forest products have a slow recovery rate, and seafood is also slow. However, there are items such as rice, which increased by 49%, and so far we have exported 3.9 million tons with a value of 2.02 billion USD. We have also reached 1.97 billion USD in vegetables and fruits, an increase of 39%, coffee increased by more than 2%, etc. Thus, these are products with fast growth rates and large market demand, so we need to focus on these industries.

As for the forestry and fishery products, we have to expand the market. There has been a huge change in the market structure this year. That is the US market, which accounted for 26.4% in 2022, but now it is only over 20%; the Chinese market, when affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, only accounted for 17.6%, now it is over 21%. So there have been market fluctuations, so we have to promote market trade.

In recent times and in the future, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has assigned leaders to focus on markets, for example: China, Europe, Japan, the US, etc. to promote traditional and potential markets with products in which we have advantages.

As I said, we will try our best to reach the same level of agricultural, forestry and fishery exports as in 2022 by the end of the third quarter, and accelerate to reach the target of 55 billion USD by the fourth quarter.

PV: Regarding rice exports, we set a target of decreasing output but increasing export value. How does the Deputy Minister evaluate this new strategy and what are your expectations for the growth of this industry?

Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien: As we know, the rice cultivation area is 7.23 million hectares. Regarding rice varieties, 85% of our rice varieties are high-quality, new varieties. That is why our rice price is now higher than that of Thailand, from 485-495 USD/ton. That shows that we have gone into quality. Research topics on rice have met the requirements for ecological regions, for example in the Mekong Delta, South Central, North Central, Red River Delta, and the Northern mountainous region, high-yield, high-quality rice varieties have almost covered the whole area.

However, in response to market demands and deep integration, research is required to select and create new varieties with high productivity, low cost, and good competitiveness, thereby bringing high efficiency to the rice industry. This year, we must also affirm that rice productivity, although the area has decreased, the output has increased. Our rice output has reached 17.46 million tons, with a yield of 67.4 quintals/ha.

PV: Please. The Deputy Minister said, from now until the end of the year, what solutions will the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development implement to resolve common difficulties of the agricultural sector?

Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien: Faced with the difficulties of the world economy and the entire economy, aggregate demand has decreased significantly. We know that many industries and sectors have no orders, workers and employees only work a few days a month, affecting the income of workers. This is the impact that causes the demand for daily life and consumption to decrease.

While input prices are rising sharply, diseases, climate change, inflation, the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and drought forecasts continue to have a clear impact on agricultural production. However, once the difficulties and challenges are identified and the advantages and potentials are assessed, the industry will come up with flexible response solutions.

For example, rice yield is mainly determined by the last 25 days before harvest. If we do not understand the situation clearly and do not know how to direct timely planting, rice yield cannot be high.

Although fruits and vegetables have a short life, we must know how to process them, including new varieties. Once they have been researched, selected, and evaluated, we must immediately resolve them for production. The speed of science and technology in the world is very fast, so we must take advantage of all varieties, cultivation processes, care, nutrition, and processing to become a closed chain, to improve competitiveness and overcome difficulties and challenges.

In addition, regarding the investment environment for agriculture, how to attract businesses to agriculture, including the fields of livestock, aquaculture, and cultivation. Together with the provinces promoting investment, bringing large-scale businesses into production, followed by farms and farmers, focusing on chain production and linking with the market, etc.

PV: Thank you very much, Deputy Minister! ./.

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