Customers buy fruits at a supermarket in HCM City. The domestic market has high demand for fruits and vegetables. (Photo: VNA)
HCM City (VNA) - Fruit and vegetable exports are unlikely to hit the target of 4-5 billion USD set for this year, according to the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetables Association.
Dang PhucNguyen, the association’s general secretary, said exports were worth 513 millionUSD in the first two months of this year, a year-on-year decline of 11.9 percent.
Total exportvalue for the full year is expected to be just over 3 billion USD, down from 3.74billion USD in 2019, he said.
“Fruit andvegetable exports have faced difficulties this year due to the COVID-19epidemic. Exports to China, the biggest buyer, might decrease significantlyfrom last year,” he said.
He addedthat exporters are striving to sell more to other markets to make up for thedecline in shipments to China.
Nguyen HongSon, president of the Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said in thelast three years many markets with high-quality requirements such as the US,Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and some Asian countries have opened theirdoors to many kinds of Vietnamese fruits.
But he notedthat most fruits and vegetables are exported in fresh form, and enterprisesneed to invest more in processing facilities to meet market demand,particularly in Europe.
According toNguyen, to boost export to the US and Europe, cultivation methods must bechanged to apply global good agriculture practices or higher.
He said storageand packaging technologies must be improved to enable products to last for over30 days so that they can be shipped to Europe and the US by sea.
“Currentlyour exports ... are completely done by air, and so prices are high and exportvolumes are low,” Nguyen said.
Herecommended that in addition to boosting exports, firms would also need to payclose attention to the lucrative domestic market of 100 million.
"Withtheir increasing incomes, Vietnamese are consuming more products that are goodfor health, and so demand for fruits and vegetables has increased significantlyin recent years," he said.
According tothe association, big cities such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Da Nang havehuge demand.
Statisticsfrom Saigon Co.op show that sales of fruits and vegetables at its supermarketchains have gone up significantly to around 1,100 tonnes a month.
Son said enterpriseshave so far focused on exports and paid little attention to the domesticmarket.
“When wehave export problems, we recognise that the domestic market is very important.
“We shouldnot think that the domestic market will accept low quality. Nowadays consumersin big cities pay close attention to the quality of products,” he said.
Besides,firms needed to seek measures to minimise intermediary costs so more consumerscould access the products, he said./.
