Viet Nam's AFF exports in 2025 poised to break records

Spectacular breakthrough in September

At the regular press conference on the morning of October 6, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment Phung Duc Tien reported that despite a series of disasters in September 2025, Viet Nam’s agriculture sector maintained its growth momentum, especially in exports. Total export turnover in the first nine months exceeded 52 billion USD, up 14% compared to the same period in 2024.

According to Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien, widespread storms and heavy rains caused considerable damage to production in northern provinces, yet the nationwide results still showed many positive indicators. The harvested rice area reached 5.5 million hectares, up 0.5% year-on-year, with an estimated output of nearly 34.8 million tons.

The pig herd slightly decreased by 0.6% due to African swine fever, but pork output still exceeded 4 million tons, up 4.6%. Poultry herds developed steadily, rising 3.7%, bringing total live poultry meat output to over 1.9 million tons.

The forestry sector also made its mark, with more than 207,000 hectares of newly planted concentrated forest, up 10.6%, and nearly 18 million cubic meters of harvested timber, an increase of 8.7% compared to the same period last year. Aquaculture remained stable, with total output in the first nine months reaching 7.26 million tons, including a 5.8% rise in shrimp production.

The brightest spot lay in trade. In September 2025 alone, exports of agricultural, forestry, and fishery (AFF) products reached 6.35 billion USD. For the first nine months, the total export value hit 52.31 billion USD, including 28.5 billion USD from agricultural products, 8.12 billion USD from aquatic products, 13.41 billion USD from forestry products, and 447.5 million USD from livestock.

The market structure showed clear diversification: Asia accounted for nearly 44% of total export value, the Americas 23%, Europe over 14%, while exports to Africa nearly doubled.

Many key products continued to affirm their position. Coffee surged with an export value of 6.98 billion USD, up more than 61%, thanks to an average export price of 5,658 USD per ton. Rubber reached 2.32 billion USD, up nearly 11%, mainly exported to China. Cashew nuts brought in 3.75 billion USD, up 18.9%. Pepper, though declining in volume, still saw nearly a 29% increase in value due to higher export prices.

Meanwhile, rice moved in the opposite direction: export volume remained at 7 million tons, but value dropped 18.5% as the average price fell to 509 USD per ton. Fruit and vegetables reached 6.22 billion USD, up more than 10%, with China remaining the largest market.

The fisheries sector recorded steady growth, hitting 8.12 billion USD in exports, with shrimp contributing the largest trade surplus. Exports of wood and wood products reached 12.52 billion USD, accounting for more than half of the U.S. market share.

Overall, Viet Nam’s AFF trade balance recorded a surplus of 15.93 billion USD, up 17.6% from the same period last year. Among key products, wood and wood products, coffee, fruits and vegetables, shrimp, rice, tra fish, and pepper all posted surpluses exceeding 1 billion USD, with wood alone contributing 10.15 billion USD.

Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien emphasized that these results demonstrate the role of Viet Nam’s agriculture as a stabilizing pillar amid global volatility.

"Disasters, diseases, and market fluctuations still pose many risks, yet we have seized opportunities from global price movements, expanded markets, and maintained a record trade surplus. This is an encouraging signal, but also a motivation for the entire sector to continue strengthening production, improving quality, and diversifying markets in the time ahead," he analyzed.

Aiming for new records

Deputy General Director of the International Cooperation Department Vu Duc Dam Quang noted that Viet Nam’s agricultural trade has expanded in scale and improved in quality in recent years, aligning with global standards.

Viet Nam is currently negotiating six new agreements to tap into potential markets such as the Middle East (Halal), Latin America, Africa, and Central Asia. At the same time, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment (MAE) is proactively removing trade barriers and meeting stringent standards such as the EUDR regulation and U.S. requirements on timber and seafood imports.

According to the department’s leadership, these are not only mandatory conditions for maintaining export momentum but also opportunities for Vietnamese agricultural products to build transparent, responsible, and sustainable brands.

Another highlight is the active participation of international corporations in Viet Nam’s agricultural value chains. Through public-private partnership (PPP) models in sectors such as coffee, pepper, rice, and seafood, multinational enterprises, farmers, and industry associations are working together to establish transparent supply chains with traceability and reduced emissions.

Mr. Quang affirmed that in the coming period, Viet Nam will prioritize attracting FDI capital linked to green transformation, encouraging projects that commit to technology transfer and partnerships with domestic farmers. At the same time, the development of the carbon credit market and the application of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) are considered green passports helping Vietnamese agricultural products strengthen their position on the global trade map.

Assessing the opportunities ahead, Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien said that if exports of AFF products can maintain the pace of 5 billion USD per month, which is feasible, especially as Western countries tend to increase consumption toward the end of the year. The sector’s total export value could reach 67 billion USD in 2025.

With a more optimistic outlook, if monthly exports reach 6 billion USD, the sector could break well past the 2024 record and hit the 70 billion USD milestone.

"In the context of global economic volatility, disasters, conflicts, and rising trade barriers, Viet Nam’s agriculture sector has remained stable, maintaining positive growth with strong increases in the export value of many key products," the Deputy Minister emphasized.

Along with efforts to boost production and expand export markets, the Deputy Minister reaffirmed that MAE has clearly defined its long-term goals for developing green and ecological agriculture, applying science and technology, and promoting circular agriculture models and renewable energy development. These serve as the foundation for the sector to fulfill the targets set by the Party, the Government, and to move toward even higher growth milestones in the future.

Deputy Director of the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection Nguyen Quang Hieu shared that the recent storms and heavy rains affected about 96,400 hectares of crops nationwide. Among them, rice was the most impacted with 40,400 hectares, followed by vegetables with about 23,200 hectares, industrial and perennial crops with 29,100 hectares, and fruit trees with 3,700 hectares.

In the North Central and Northern regions alone, around 1.1 million hectares of summer-autumn rice were cultivated, with about 40,000 hectares affected by storms and flooding. However, this represents the area impacted, not completely lost.

As of now, the North Central region has harvested about 87% of its area and is expected to complete harvesting in the first half of October, while the Northern region has harvested 47% and is expected to finish by the end of October.