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Agriculture is the primary occupation of the population, and rice is by far the leading crop. The Mekong and Red river deltas are among the world's greatest rice-growing regions, the former benefiting from heavy rainfall and rich alluvial soil and the latter notable for its elaborate network (c.2,700 mi/4,350 km) of dikes, dams, canals, and locks that provide irrigation and flood control. Peanuts, corn, sweet potatoes, and beans are secondary food crops, and cotton, jute, coffee, tea, and sugarcane are among the cash crops produced. Fishing and aquaculture comprise an important industry, and marine products are a major export. Rubber is also important. Timber resources are still substantial, particularly in the north, but deforestation resulting from highland resettlement, shifting cultivation, and commercial cutting is an increasingly serious problem.
Vietnam's primary export industry is mining. Most of the country's mineral resources are in the north, and Vietnam produces large amounts of coal as well as having sizable deposits of phosphates, manganese, bauxite, chromate, and other metal ores. Substantial offshore petroleum (oil and gas) deposits have been discovered in southern waters, and production is being developed. Vietnam's industrial development was hampered by prolonged war, but under the new economic reform program (Doi Moi), there has been considerable industrial development. Important industries include agricultural processing, machine building, auto assembly, and the manufacture of textiles and apparel, cement, chemical fertilizers, glass, and tires. Many of the large and capital-intensive projects are joint ventures between foreign and Vietnamese local governments. The tourism industry is also significant; over one million foreigners visited Vietnam in 1994. Vietnam's main trading partners are Singapore, South Korea, and Japan.
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