The export turnover of agricultural products was US$3 billion, a year-on-year increase of 5 percent, seafood (US$ 1.2 billion), up 17 percent and forestry products (US$ 1.1 billion), up 33 percent.

Seafood including pangasius (tra and basa fish) and frozen shrimp remained Vietnam’s key export items, reaching earnings of US$307 million and US$220 million, respectively and marking increases of 15 percent and 11 percent over the same period last year.

The EU continues to be Vietnam’s top seafood export market followed by Japan and the US.

Meanwhile, rice, rubber and pepper also saw high increases in export volumes and turnover. In the first four months of this year, rice exports hit nearly US$1.2 billion, rubber (US$445 million) with 173,000 tonnes and pepper (US$130 million) with 43,000 tonnes, up more than 9 percent in volume and 39 percent in export turnover.