however while it was stronger than in indonesia india and the philippines and equal to that in thailand it lagged behind china and more recently also malaysia reflecting a slowdown in the s compared with the highest rates registered in the s fuglie and rada by viet nam had become the world s largest exporter of cashews and black pepper the second largest exporter of coffee and cassava the third largest exporter of rice and fisheries and the fifth largest exporter of natural rubber annual exports for these commodities were well above or very near to usd billion in the early s