Vietnam ranks second, after Thailand, worldwide in exporting cassava and cassava-made products, which are available in many countries including China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar and South Korea, according to a report on local Dan Tri (People's Knowledge) website, Tuesday.
Accordingly, Vietnam exported 3.1 tons of cassava and cassava- made products in 2013, earning 1.1 billion U.S. dollars, a decrease of 25.7 percent in volume and 18.6 percent in value year on year, the report quoted data from the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Import-Export Department.
Currently, the country's cassava output ranked among the top- ten countries recording the highest cassava productivity, with 17. 6 tons per hectare.
Total cassava-growing areas nationwide reached 560,000 hectares, which produces nearly 9.4 million tons per year. Of which, about 30 percent are consumed domestically as food, for animal feed production and pharmaceuticals making, input for production of ethanol fuel and industrial alcohol, while the rest are processed into dry cassava cuts or powder.
As the end of 2013, the country had six factories fueled by dry cassava cuts producing bio-energy, and nearly 100 others processing cassava powder. Besides, there are hundreds of small family-scale cassava processing mills.
China is the largest importer of Vietnamese cassava products, accounting for 85.6 percent of the country's total cassava exports volume. However, Vietnam earned only 946.4 million U.S. dollars from cassava exports to China in 2013, due to the decreasing demand as a result of the global economy's slowdown and Chinese ethanol industry's standstill with nearly 70 percent of its factories being closed down.
In addition, Vietnam's cassava stockpile still remains high, while cassava supply from other markets like Thailand and Indonesia, is huge, leading to tough competitive prices and declining demand on cassava exports.
In such a context, insiders suggested expansion of the domestic consumption market, not just depending on the global demand.
In the first two months of 2014, Vietnam exported 652,000 tons of cassava and cassava products, earning 206 million U.S. dollars, down 32.7 percent in volume and 30.6 percent in value, year on year, according to the country's general statistics office.
