A farmer harvests dragon fruit, which is among Vietnamese fruits exported to China (Photo: VNA) HCM City (VNS/VNA)- With China making regulations for fruit and vegetable imports more stringent,Vietnamese businesses need to pay close attention to the changes and complywith them, experts told a conference in Ho Chi Minh City on October 27.
According to Ta Quang Kien, ActingDirector of the Agricultural Products Processing and Market DevelopmentDepartment’s agriculture produce commercial policies division, China imports 9-10billion USD worth of fruits and vegetables annually and accounts for more than70 percent of Vietnam’s exports.
However, “Vietnam’s vegetableand fruits exports to China fell by 25.9 percent in the first nine months ofthe year.” Besides, growth in exports has been declining since 2015.
Nguyen Quang Hieu, head of theplant protection department’s international co-operation division, said Chinawas tightening control over its farm produce imports and their quality, andrequiring exporters to declare farming zone codes and packaging facilities.
China is also working with Vietnamon updating export protocols for eight of the nine fruits that the latter isable to export, namely dragon fruit, watermelon, banana, rambutan, lychee,jackfruit, longan, and mango.
Dang Phuc Nguyen, General Secretaryof the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetables Association, said safety awareness isrising among Chinese and so regulations are becoming stricter, especially withregard to chemicals and disease prevention.
“More farmers should beencouraged to acquire VietGap certification and adopt safe farming practices.”
The Ministry of Agriculture andRural Development is negotiating to export more new fruits andvegetables to China, including durian and yam.
It will continue to update thelist of businesses that can export frozen fruit products to China and focus onissuing codes for farming zones and packaging facilities for export to China.
It is also working withprovinces to better understand their challenges and raise awareness of China’spolicies on produce imports./.
VNA
