The collaboration between two 'giants' in the agricultural industry – Vietnam Rubber Group (VRG) with abundant land resources and U & I Agriculture JSC (Unifarm), a company that pioneers in applying high-tech agriculture - has breathed new life into the banana industry.
The price of kluay hom thong banana or "golden bananas" in Thailand has doubled from about 15 THB (0.44 USD) per kilogramme to 30 THB, with farmers rejoicing at growing demand.
The protocol recently signed by the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the General Administration of Customs China (GACC) outlines specific requirements for plant quarantine, management of growing areas, packaging and processing for Vietnamese bananas to export to the Chinese market.
About 350 stores and supermarkets of retail giant AEON across Japan, along with its website, are displaying diverse products during the Vietnamese Goods Week that kicked off on June 25.
Vietnam earned 2.5 billion USD from exporting fruit and vegetable in the first nine months of 2020, representing a year-on-year drop of 11 percent, according to the Import-Export Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
Banana continues to be a top earner among Laos’s agricultural products exported to China though the Southeast Asian nation’s government stopped granting licences for developing more banana plantations.
With good results seen in the first seven months of this year, experts forecast that the revenue target of 4.2 billion USD in vegetable and fruit exports for 2019 is reachable.
Banana is expected to be Laos' top agricultural export in 2019 despite the local government’s ban on the expansion of plantations around the country, according to local daily Vientiane Times.
With their high demand for agricultural products, the Republic of Korea and Japan offer opportunities for Vietnam to boost export of farm produce, especially fruits and vegetables, Do Quoc Hung, Deputy Director General of the Asia-Africa Market Department, has said.
Thanks to their freshness and succulent tastes, Vietnamese dragon fruits, bananas and mangos are being sought-after at Japanese large supermarkets like Don Quijote, Daiei and Aeon.
Like most other nations in Asia, the Vietnamese welcome the New Year according to the lunar calendar, and Tet Nguyen Dan (the lunar New Year Day) has long become the biggest festival of the nation.