Farm – forestry – fishery sector got trade surplus despite of Covid - 19
Saturday, February 29,2020AsemconnectVietnam - Vietnam’s farm-forestry-fishery sector got a trade surplus of over 1 billion USD in the first two months of 2020, a year-on-year rise of 18.4 percent.
In the first two months of this year, the country’s total export turnover of agro-forestry-aquatic products was estimated at 5.34 billion USD, down 2.8 percent against the same period last year, while the import turnover fell 6.7 percent to 4.3 billion USD.
The declines were seen in tra fish (27 percent), cashew nuts (17 percent), rubber (16 percent), and fruits and vegetables (12 percent).
The four main export markets for Vietnam’s agro-forestry-fishery sector are China, the US, the European Union, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) said it has coordinated with relevant ministries and localities to carry out trade promotion activities in new markets and attempted to boost domestic sales.
The General Statistics Office said the agro-forestry-fishery sector expanded 2.01 percent in 2019, contributing 4.6 percent to the year’s gross domestic production growth.
Meanwhile, the MARD estimated agro-forestry-aquatic product exports for 2020 at 41.3 billion USD, rising 3.2 percent year on year.
The price of farm products fell due to Covid-19
The suspension of trade in seafood and agriculture products at some northern border gates with China as a measure against the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) has caused a demand-supply imbalance in the market.
The fisheries sector is facing a number of difficulties because of the epidemic.
According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers, fisheries exports to China, where Covid-19 is raging, were 45 per cent down in January to US$51.5 million.
VASEP general secretary Truong Dinh Hoe said that exports were down from the same period last year partly because January coincided with the Lunar New Year holidays which interrupted exports for 10 days.
The outbreak in China has also had a serious impact on several other industries in Viet Nam including transport, tourism and retail.
Last year China was the largest importer of Vietnamese tra fish, buying $622.7 million worth, or 31 per cent of the country’s total exports. Many processors continue to see China as a strategic market this year thanks to steady export growth and the good prices and diverse segments in that country.
So any interruption in Viet Nam-China trade such as the current one hits the tra fish segment hard, he said.
Lobster exports to China too have been hit, causing prices to drop by nearly half in the local market.
Tran Thi Trang, a seafood restaurant owner in HCM City, said lobster prices are now around VND 700,000 ($30.2) per kilogram, VND 400,000-500,000 ($17.3-21.5) down.
Thanks to the sharp price drop, her restaurant sells more than one ton a week, including 300-400kg during weekends, she said.
The price of Alaska lobster and king crab have dropped by 30-50 per cent.
The consumption of that seafood is increasing sharply but cannot pick up the slack caused by the slump in exports.
In this context, VASEP has advised member businesses to keep abreast of information from Chinese partners to dispatch their consignments as soon as customs clearance is permitted to minimize preservation and storage costs.
They have also been told to rework farming and processing plans to avoid excessive supply.
VASEP plans to propose that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Government should issue policies to support affected businesses and farming households such as by reducing loan interest rates and extending payment deadlines.
Covid-19 has caused problems to the agricultural sector, which is thought to be the worst affected, especially dragon fruit, watermelon and rice exports
But it is also an opportunity to change production and business methods to adapt to new challenges and difficulties.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said it was necessary to develop both short- and long-term scenarios.
“In order to take advantage of opportunities, it is necessary to develop large-scale production and co-operation chains to find other directions for agricultural output.”
Deputy general director of Central Group, Nguyen Thi Phuong, said her company was buying agricultural products from farmers in the provinces of Binh Thuan, Gia Lai, Khanh Hoa, Long An, and Tien Giang.
“This support programme is being carried out at all 37 Big C and GO! Market supermarkets nation-wide until the situation is controlled. We expect to buy 80 tonnes of dragon fruit and watermelon per day.”
At Big C and GO! in the north, watermelon is sold at VND6,200 per kilogramme and dragon fruit at VND15,500. In the south, they are sold at VND4,900 and VND10,900. These prices are around a third of that on normal days.The demand for agricultural products was very high in her supermarket chain, Phuong said.
It had asked MARD for details of agricultural produce which cannot be exported so that it could set up proper marketing programmes in the domestic market, she added.
Seafood import demand fell, but Vietnam’s seafood exporters are not too worried
Seafood exporters in Viet Nam are not too worried though import demand for their products has taken a hit due to the coronavirus epidemic.
According to Viet Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), seafood exports to China by land account for around 20 per cent of total value, and so the border closure has heavily impacted exports in the first quarter.
VASEP forecast that in the best case, seafood exports to China in the first quarter would be 40 per cent lower than in the last quarter of last year though still 10 per cent higher year-on-year.
If the disease persists for a long time, full-year export to China could see a 6 per cent drop, it warned.
But according to Mr. Truong Dinh Hoe, general secretary of VASEP, the disease's effect on exports in the first few months of the year had not been too drastic, and China's seafood imports usually pick up after March or April.
Doan Chi Thien, a management board member at Nam Viet Corporation, said the Lunar New Year holiday was extended until February 9 in most of China’s provinces, and so businesses were unable to export shark catfish to them.
While shark catfish exports to China are expected to take a big hit, it is only temporary, while other markets are importing the product normally, with ones like South America and Europe in fact increasing shipments, according to Thien.
His company has been focusing on diversifying its markets and reducing dependence on only one market, he added.
Pham Thanh Tung of seafood supplier Vinh Hoan Corporation said his company hoped demand would pick up in the second quarter, adding that it had already been working on expanding its markets.
CK
Source: VITIC/Vietnamplus.vn/VNS
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