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Overview
of
agricultural commodities
Agricultural
renovation has been considered the kick start for Vietnam overall economic
reform. Such changes in agricultural sector as the removal of collective
economy, land allocation to farmers' households and improvement of
farmers' access to markets have provided farmers with self-determination
in production and trade, stimulating their production incentives.
Important achievements in agricultural development have laid solid
foundation for national economic development.
Production:
Over the last 10
years (1990-1999), agricultural production has experienced high and stable
growth rate of averagely 4.5% a year. Agricultural production value,
calculated by fixed price of 1989, increased from 12031 billion VND in
1990 to 18357 billion VND in 1999. Food production raised from 21.5
million tons in 1990 to 34.2 million tons in 1999, equivalent to the
average growth rate of 5.3%/year, 3 times higher than population growth
pace; helping Vietnam not only meet domestic demand but also have surplus
for export. Per capita food consumption was up rapidly from 324 kg in 1990
to 438 kg in 1999, ensuring food security at national level. Of total food
output, rice production accounts for over 90% with great increase of paddy
output from 19.2 million tons in 1990 to 31.4 million tons in 1999,
equivalent to the average growth rate of 5.2%/year.
Recently,
cultivation structure has made great change from rice monoculture to crop
diversification with the introduction of highly effective crops matching
natural conditions and regional advantages. Strong development of 10% per
annum of industrial crops including both perennial crops (coffee, tea,
rubber, cashew nut) and annual crops (sugarcane, groundnut) has been
witnessed in recent years. In 1999, coffee production gained 486 thousand
tons (5.2 times higher than 1990 level), attaining the growth rate of 21%
a year. Rubber output also raised from 57.9 thousand tons in 1990 to 214.8
thousand tons in 1999, an increase of 155 thousand tons. Among the
foresaid industrial crops, cashew has high but unstable growth. In
1990-1997 period, cashew production underwent the high growth from 28
thousand tons to 127.4 thousand tons. But the last 2 years witnessed the
remarkable reduction in cashew output, even to only 80 thousand tons in
1999, due to difficult weather. Over the last 10 years, tea production
increased by 86%, up to 60 thousand tons in 1999. Sugarcane gained the
highest output of 17.8 million tons in 1999, 3.3 times higher than 1990
amount.
Apart from food
and industrial crops, vegetable and fruit production over the last time
has also remarkably developed and diversified. In 1990-1999 period, growth
rate in terms of area and output of vegetable was respectively 5.1% and
8.3%. In 1999, vegetable production of the whole nation was over 6 million
tons, increasing per capita consumption to about 65 kg a year. Fruit
production also experienced strong development regarding volume and
categories. Specialized zones have been firmly established and developed.
Fruit area rapidly increases 6.7% a year, gaining 496 thousand ha in 1999,
raising total output to about 4.5 million tons.
In parallel with
the high growth of cultivation, livestock sector has also gained
encouraging achievements. From 1990 to 1999, growth rate of pig herd
remained high, averagely 5% a year, increasing pig heads to nearly 19
millions. Livestock productivity has also been improved, though at lower
rate of 1.7% a year, increasing the growth rate of live weight pork output
to 6.7%/year. Poultry has also made great increase of 6% a year, gaining
179 million heads in 1999. Contrarily, number of cattle heads is still
low, only 2.9 million buffalos and 4 million oxen in 1999. The development
of livestock sector has helped raise per capita meat consumption from 15
kg in 1990 to 22.4 kg in 1999.
Export:
Along with the
development in production, recent years have witnessed the considerable
improvement in the export of agro products with total export turnover in
1994-1999 period of 18.4 billion USD, equivalent to 15%/year. In 1999
alone, agricultural exports reached 3.95 billion USD, accounting for 34.3%
of total export turnover, focusing on such main products as rice, coffee,
rubber, cashew, pepper and sea products.
At present,
Vietnam is the second largest rice exporter in the world with total export
volume of 30 million tons (from 1989 up to now), gaining USD 7 billion. In
1999, Vietnam rice export volume amounted to 4.5 million tons with the
value of USD 1035 million, paving the way for Vietnam to join the "$
1 billion club".
The export of
some other agro products has made dramatic progress. During 6 years from
1994 to 1999, coffee export volume increased 2.7 times, from 176.4
thousand tons to 488 thousand tons with turnover of $ 592 million. In the
same period, rubber export amount raised from 127.7 thousand tons to 263
thousand tons with the turnover of $ 145 million. Though cashew export
volume reduced slightly to 16 thousand tons, its turnover remained high at
$ 100 million in 1999.
Apart from the
aforesaid export agro products, some others have great potentials for
export, including tea, wood products, vegetable and fruits. In 1999,
export value of vegetable and fruits and tea was $ 104 million and $ 45
million respectively.
However, one more
problem constraining the improvement of production and business
effectiveness and products competitiveness is the simple and outdated
processing technologies, raising post-harvest loss rate, making products'
quality and packages fail to match domestic and international markets'
demand. Post-harvest loss rate of rice remains rather high, making up 13%.
Most of vegetable and fruit processors have possessed 30 - 40 year - old
production technologies. Up to now, only 3 meat processors of Vietnam have
been able to meet hygiene international standards. At present, Vietnam has
only one company producing instant coffee in Bien Hoa (Dong Nai province)
with capacity of 1000 tons of instant coffee a year. But, only 70% of the
company's capacity is maximized.
Therefore, in order to
promote quality and competitiveness of Vietnam agro products in
international markets, the investment in upgrading production chains and
processing technology is the most important, helping boosting added value
of the products.
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