In July alone, these products earned US$4.2 billion from exports, up 26.7% against the corresponding time last year, but down 9.5% from the previous month, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Rubber, fruits and vegetables, pepper, cashew nuts, cassava and cassava products, husbandry products, tra fish, shrimp and timber products were among the items with high export values in July.

However, coffee, rice and tea saw their export volumes and values dropping in the month.

For export markets, Asia made up 42% of the market share, followed by America (31%), Europe (11%) and Africa (nearly 2%).

The US was the biggest importer of Vietnamese agro-forestry-aquatic products with turnover amounting to US$8.2 billion, accounting for nearly 29% of the market share. It was followed by China with revenue of some US$5.5 billion, and Japan with over US$1.9 billion.

To boost exports in the remaining months of this year, the ministry will continue opening the market and providing updates on trade agreements, policies and regulations of foreign markets for exporters, said Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien.

The ministry has also closely coordinated with Vietnamese commercial counsellors abroad, and supported localities and businesses in shipping qualified products to the EU, the UK, China and Japan, while working to remove trade and technical barriers for Vietnamese agricultural exports.

Given the complex developments of COVID-19, it will instruct and assist localities and enterprises to maintain production and business in line with pandemic prevention and control regulations, he said.

The ministry said in the seven months, Vietnam imported some US$24.7 billion worth of agro-forestry-aquatic products, a year-on-year increase of 42.8%, resulting in a trade surplus of around US$3.9 billion, a drop of 25.8% from the same period last year.