Durians are carefully sorted with six fruits per box for export to China. (Photo: Nguyen Dung/VNA)

So the trade surplus reached more than 4.6 billion USD, down 11% over the same period last year. Given a decrease of over 21% in 5 months, the agricultural trade surplus is showing signs of improvement.

China, the US, and Japan continue to be the three largest importers of Vietnam's agro-forestry and fishery products. Export to China increased 7.7%. 

The agricultural sector will enhance trade promotion and negotiation to remove technical and trade barriers for more products to be exported to traditional markets, markets with high export turnover, and new markets.