On June 1, the Ministry of Agriculture held a regular press conference to provide information on agricultural, forestry and fishery production in the first 5 months of 2026. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, in the first 5 months of 2026, agricultural, forestry and fishery production achieved positive results, continuing to ensure supply-demand balances, meeting the needs of food and foodstuffs for domestic consumption and export.
With production growth in many sectors and positive market prospects, the agricultural sector has positive signals to complete the growth target in 2026.
In the field of cultivation, the whole country cultivated 2.98 million hectares of Winter-Spring rice, an increase of 0.3% compared to the same period last year. Harvested output is estimated at 13.96 million tons, down 2.4%. For the Summer-Autumn crop, the cultivated area reached 1.29 million hectares, up 3%. The livestock sector continued to recover and maintain growth. Total pig herd increased by 3.7%, total poultry herd increased by 3.7%. Meanwhile, total buffalo herd decreased by 2.9%, cattle herd decreased by 0.7%. In the forestry sector, the area of new concentrated planted forests reached 101.4 thousand hectares, up 1.9% compared to the same period. Timber production reached 8.7 million m3, up 3.8%.
In particular, seafood continues to be a bright spot with an estimated output of 3.9 million tons, an increase of 3.1%. Of which, aquaculture output reached 2.3 million tons, an increase of 5%; exploitation reached 1.6 million tons, an increase of 0.5%.
Along with valuing the domestic market and promoting domestic consumption, the entire agricultural sector has implemented many trade promotion solutions, taking advantage of free trade agreements, opening up new markets and restructuring export markets. Thanks to that, the export turnover of agricultural, forestry and fishery products continues to maintain its growth momentum. It is estimated that in the first 5 months of 2026, total export turnover reached 30.69 billion USD, an increase of 9.2% compared to the same period last year.
In the opposite direction, imports reached 22.28 billion USD, an increase of 12.6%. The whole industry had a trade surplus of 8.41 billion USD, an increase of 1.1%.
In which, agricultural exports reached 16.38 billion USD, up 6.1%; forestry products reached 7.65 billion USD, up 4.5%; seafood reached 4.65 billion USD, up 10.6%. Notably, livestock products reached 308 million USD, a strong increase of 43.2%.
Regarding the market, exports to China continued to grow well, accounting for 20.5% market share and increasing by 28.4% compared to the same period. The United States accounted for 18.5% market share, down 3.6%. EU accounted for 11.8%, up 4.2%; Japan accounted for 6.8%, up 3.5%.
With production growth and market prospects in all sectors in the first 5 months of the year, this is a positive signal to complete the growth rate target of the entire industry in 2026," Mr. Tran Gia Long, Deputy Director of the Department of Planning and Finance (Ministry of Agriculture and Environment) shared at the press conference.
