AsemconnectVietnam - In 2023, the trade surplus of the agricultural, forestry and fishery industry reached over 11 billion USD, the highest level in recent years.

Vietnam's export turnover of agricultural, forestry and fishery products in 2023 was estimated to reach over 53 billion USD.
Agriculture continued to affirm its important position, being the pillar of the economy, firmly ensuring food security, major balances of the economy and contributing to macroeconomic stability (rice output reached 43.4 million tonnes, up by 1.7% compared to 2022, meat output of all kinds reached 7.6 million tonnes, up by 3.5%; seafood output reached 9.3 million tonnes, up by 2.9% ).
Agricultural, forestry and fishery export turnover reached over 53 billion USD, the trade surplus of the whole industry reached over 11 billion USD (the highest level in recent years and accounting for over 42.5% of the country's trade surplus). Some export products increased to record highs, such as fruits and vegetables increased by over 70% and rice increased by over 36%. ST25 rice won the championship award for the second time, the best in the world.
The industry has also successfully organized many major national and international events (International Rice Industry Festival, Festival of Conservation and Development of Craft Villages, ASEAN Ministerial Conference on Natural Disaster Prevention, etc.) , thereby helping to promote the image and brand of agricultural, forestry and fishery products domestically, regionally and internationally, promoting the consumption of agricultural products.
The number of OCOP products with 3 stars or higher increased steadily over the months and reached 11,000 products, creating favorable conditions to help businesses promote and sell their products.
The industry has researched, successfully produced and exported a commercial vaccine to prevent African swine fever.
Besides the achieved results, the agricultural sector still had some shortcomings and weaknesses. Specifically, 3 National Sector Plans for the period 2021 - 2030, with a vision to 2050 (on forestry, protection of aquatic resources and fishing ports) have not been issued as planned; the target of total agricultural, forestry and fishery export turnover and the rate of communes meeting new rural standards have not met the target assigned by the Government;
The effective forms of production organization and association are not really stable. The linking along the value chain to promote mechanization and application of high technology to reduce intermediate costs and increase added value was not yet popular; hot spots for deforestation, illegal transportation and storage of forest products were still available; the "yellow card" regarding IUU has not been removed; riverbank and coastal erosion continued to occur.
In order to synchronously and effectively deploy Resolutions, laws, strategies, programs, projects, planning and industry development plans according to the orientation of "Ecological agriculture, modern rural areas, civilized farmers", continuing to make a strong transition from agricultural production thinking to agricultural economics, in 2024, the agricultural sector will focus on reorganizing production according to specialized farming areas, associate with geographical indications and origin traceability as well as building of planting and farming area codes.
The sector should also innovate and develop cooperative economy, support cooperation, and chain links; controll diseases on crops and livestock to ensure production plans; synchronously deploy natural disaster prevention solutions to limit impacts on agricultural production.
Orient localities should also have production plans suitable to market needs; ensuring supply to serve domestic and export needs; effectively implement the National Target Program on building new rural areas associated with rural economic development.
The sector needs to promote trade promotion, negotiate to remove technical barriers, trade barriers and open export markets; support localities to connect and promote processing and consumption of agricultural products during the harvest season; as well as accelerate disbursement and improve the efficiency of public investment to create momentum for industry growth; improve capacity to prevent natural disasters and adapt to climate change.
Besides, the sector should improve the level of research, application, transfer of science and technology and innovation.; pay attention to the training and coaching to form a team of new generation farmers with economic knowledge and skills to adapt to green agriculture and the market; and reform administrative procedures, create a favorable environment for investment and business in agriculture and rural areas.
Seafood exports in 2023
The Department of Fisheries (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) said that seafood exports in 2023 were estimated at about 9.2 billion USD, reaching 92% of the plan (10 billion USD). Of which, the exports of shrimp reached about 3.45 billion USD; pangasius about 1.9 billion USD; mollusks about 0.8 billion USD; tuna about 0.9 billion USD.
The impact of the prolonged Russia-Ukraine conflict, the fighting between Israel and Hamas, and the unstable situation in the Middle East caused the world economy to recover slowly. The prices of some goods and input materials for aquaculture development were still high, high logistics costs put pressure on production activities, especially when consumption demand slowed down; the scale of consumption increased, and the production has shrunk.
The European Commission continued to maintain a "yellow card" warning for Vietnam's exploited seafood, etc. causing Vietnam's seafood exports to fail to achieve the set plan.
According to Mr. Nhu Van Can - Deputy Director of the Department of Fisheries, total seafood output in 2023 was estimated to reach 9.269 million tonnes, an increase of 2% compared to 2022. Among them, fisheries output reached 3.861 million tonnes, equivalent to 2022; aquacultural output reached more than 5,408 million tonnes, an increase of 3.5% compared to 2022.
Particularly, the mining output has not met the set target and must be reduced to 3.68 million tonnes. As for aquaculture, marine farming alone reached about 9.5 million m3 of cages, an increase of 5.5% compared to 2022, along with 57,000 hectares of mollusk farming. The total marine aquaculture output reached about 789,800 tonnes, an increase of 10.1% compared to 2022.
Mr. Duong Long Tri - Deputy General Secretary of the Vietnam Fisheries Association - said that shrimp and pangasius production have both increased, but if the production continues to increase, it will be difficult.
To date, farmed shrimp output reached about 1.1 million tonnes, the export value still only ranged from 3.5 to 4 billion USD, while previously there was only 700,000 tonnes, but the value was equivalent.
Therefore, it is necessary to consider preliminary processing and processing solutions to increase the value of key products to increase export turnover.
Regarding fisheries exploitation management, Mr. Nguyen Van Trung - Head of the Department of Fishing Vessel Management and Fishery Logistics Services - said that it is necessary to complete the Electronic Logbook software to serve the traceability of seafood origin, strengthen inspection and supervision of the implementation of regulations on local exploitation management.
According to Mr. Nguyen Van Trung, data digitization is an important basis for fisheries management, administration, and transparency. The output, exploitation resources, number of ships, and number of crew members passing through the port must apply digital technology and management software to be both efficient and save resources.
Mr. Tran Dinh Luan - Director of the Department of Fisheries - commented that seafood resources are declining; EC still maintains the "yellow card" warning; the import demand from markets that have not shown signs of recovery are difficulties the seafood industry will continue to face in 2024.
Therefore, in 2024, the fisheries industry targets total seafood output to reach about 9.22 million tonnes, equivalent to the estimate for 2023. Among them, the catching output is about 3.54 million tonnes, a decrease 8.3% compared to 2023; aquacultural output is about 5.68 million tonnes, an increase of 5% compared to the estimate for 2023 while the seafood export turnover reaches 9.5 billion USD.
To overcome difficulties in export markets, Mr. Tran Dinh Luan said that it is necessary to continue to organize chain-linked and horizontal production. In the field of exploitation, the origin of products must be traceable and combat illegal fishing; the exploitation must be consistent with resource reserves and ensure food safety on fishing vessels and fishing ports returning to the factory.
In addition to requirements for reducing emissions and increasing green production, animal welfare is also an issue for the aquaculture sector in the coming time. This is not only a demand of the domestic market but also a trend in the world consumer market in the coming time.
CK
Source: VITIC/congthuong.vn