Lao’s Plant Product Exports Reach 8.8 Trillion KIP

Source: Vientiane Times

Laos has exported over 3 million tonnes of plants and plant products worth US$507.6 million (over 8.8 trillion kip) in the first three months of this year. The exports amount to 56.4 percent of the annual plan.

The exports when compared to the corresponding period of 2022, exceeded by US$19 million or five percent.

The Director General of Department of Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Mr Bounchanh Kombounyasith, informed recently that the export of plants and plant products through plant quarantine checkpoints have met 50 percent of the annual plan.

The surge in the import of plants stands at 18 percent in the first three months of this year.

Exports include 1,936,309 tonnes of potatoes, 230,987 tonnes of sugarcane, 269,979 tonnes of bananas, 86,420 tonnes of melons, and 49,235 tonnes of corn. These are mostly exported to China, Thailand, and Vietnam.

As for the import of plants and plant products through the international plant quarantine checkpoints, a total of 98,671 tonnes were imported worth more than US$21.4 million or 370 billion kip. When compared to the corresponding period in 2022, an increase of US$3 million or 18 percent has been recorded.

Most of the imported products cannot be produced in Laos. For example, 53,925 tonnes of northern black wattle, 6,755 tonnes of soyabean paste, 1,012 tonnes of grain oil and 2,195 tonnes of corn paste are imported from Thailand, Vietnam, India, USA, China, Brazil, and Sweden.

The department of agriculture has set a target of 3,810,000 tonnes for rainy and dry season rice for both domestic consumption and exports.
Laos earned more than US$870 million from the export of agricultural produce, equalling 72.57 percent of the target for the whole of 2022.

Meanwhile, the main farm exports were bananas, rubber, cassava, sugarcane, cattle and buffaloes. China is the largest purchaser of these products.