Though cassava has only been listed as a key export staple for a year, foreign sales, which reached 2.7 million tonnes, were worth more than 400 million USD in the first seven months of the year, up 4.4 and 2.8 times in terms of volume and value.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) said increasing exports of the root had taken place despite the global economic slowdown, which had harmed foreign sales of other goods.

Cassava is chiefly used to make enthanol. A kilogram of the root can produce two litres of ethanol. Petrol blended with ethanol is preferred in developed countries because it is less polluting.

Nguyen Tuan Viet, who runs the website Vietgo.vn, which promotes exports over the internet, said that one in every 10 orders he received were for sliced cassava or powdered cassava.

However, Viet said there were not many domestic firms selling the root as it was a relatively new export.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, China is Vietnam’s largest importer of root, accounting for roughly 90 percent of Vietnam’s total cassava export volume.

Viet also said that roughly 70 percent of orders for cassava on his website were from China. He said there were numerous orders also being placed from the Republic of Korea, Russia and Malaysia.

MoIT reported that China imports nearly 4 million tonnes of sliced cassava and 1 million tonnes of powdered cassava annually.

Nguyen Thi Lam Binh, assistant general director of the Hanoi Production and Trading Company (Intimex), said her company exported roughly 120,000 tonnes of cassava to China this year.

Binh said that her company was seeking more cassava sources to meet demand from the country.

She added that although other export markets, such as Japan and the European, were looking to import cassava, they demanded a higher quality product, which domestic suppliers find it harder to meet.