Vietnam’s fruit, vegetables export sees impressive growth

The export figure soared from US$151.5 million in 2003 to US$1.07 billion in 2013, and US$2.458 billion in 2016, over 80% of them were from fruits. 

Last year, shipments of Vietnamese fruits to China, the US, Japan, Australia strongly grew. Many kinds of fruits such as dragon fruits, mango, litchi, longan, orange and tangerine are available in supermarkets in the US and Japan. 

According to the General Department of Vietnam Customs, the country’s fruit export surged 43% annually in 2017 to US$3.5 billion, higher than rice export. 

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said fruit and vegetables shipment hit US$353.782 million in April, up 10% year-on-year. In the first four months of this year, the figure reached US$1.323 billion, marking a 30% rise year-on-year. 

Earlier in March, the fruit and vegetables sector surpassed crude oil in terms of export earnings for the first time. 

As of early April, Vietnam’s fruits and vegetables were present in 60 markets worldwide. 

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Quoc Doanh said the prospect of exporting fruits worth US$10 billion is not far as more land will be used for fruit cultivation under the agricultural restructuring plan. 

Can Tho city and Tien Giang and Dong Thap provinces in the Mekong Delta region have built intensive fruit cultivation areas with huge output. 

Doanh said Vietnam needs to diversify export markets and reconsider the structure of fruit exports, especially dragon fruits which is its most important currency earner and accounts for the largest share of export to China. 

He added that the ministry has been partnering with firms to build additional seven processing plants. 

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said total trade in fruits and vegetables nears US$230 billion each year, growing 3-5% per year. 

He underscored the need to ensure closed-end process with clean and quality products at competitive prices.