Fruit and vegetable export turnover is estimated to increase significantly during the last months of the year due to global natural disasters, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

The MoIT said that many countries in Asia and the EU have been adversely affected by bad weather conditions, both vegetable and fruit yields plummeting against climbing demand.

In agreement, an anonymous Vietnam Vegetable and Fruit Association official said that floods have greatly influenced yields in Thailand .

The unbalance between supply and demand has pushed prices up to such an extent that many countries have been forced to increase their imports, offering Vietnamese exporters an excellent opportunity to thrive, the ministry said.

The ministry additionally predicted that, until the end of the year, exports to the US and EU would remain stable and unaffected by global recession.

Currently, American taste has shifted towards tropical vegetables and fruit, the ministry explained.

Sharing the idea, an association official said, "Tropical vegetables and fruit such as dragon fruit, coconuts and pipe-apples have been favoured around the world."

Moreover, he added that, thanks to Government support, the quality of Vietnamese products has improved considerably.

"The Government has supported farmers in applying new technologies for purposes of developing more competitive products," he said.

"Export revenues have increased month by month. In the first 10 months of the year, vegetable and fruit exports brought in 515 million USD, an increase of 40.6 percent over the same period last year," he added.

The official affirmed that this was the first time that the Vietnamese vegetable and fruit industry had managed to reach such record exports. /.