Harvesting Hung Yen longans (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam earned 1.62 billion USD from exporting fruits andvegetables in the first five months of 2018, a year-on-year rise of 16.54percent.
In May alone, the country grossed 303.1 million USD from selling fruits andvegetables abroad, up 10 percent against the same month last year, according toVietnam Customs.
Fruit-vegetable was the second biggest foreign currency earner in theagricultural sector, after aquatic products.
Vietnamese fruits and vegetables have been sold across 60 countries andterritories, including four main markets namely China, the US, Japan and theRepublic of Korea.
In January-April, fruit-vegetable exports to most markets registered growthwith China importing nearly 989 million USD worth of products, a year-on-yearincrease of 30.3 percent and 75 percent of fruit-vegetable export turnover.
The US came second with 39 million USD (up 12.3 percent), followed by Japan at 36.55million USD (up 15.9 percent) and the Republic of Korea 34.78 million USD (up13.28 percent).
Southeast Asian countries imported 56.39 million USD worth of fruits andvegetables, an annual rise of 19.4 percent and 4.3 percent of thefruit-vegetable export turnover.
Strong growth was also seen in markets such as France (up 41.3 percent) andAustralia (up 34.9 percent).
Notably, Vietnamese fruits and vegetables were also exported to Thailand andIndonesia, which have strengths in agriculture.
In the period, Vietnam imported 575 million USD worth of fruits and vegetables,up 15.3 percent over the same period last year, according to the Ministry ofAgriculture and Rural Development.
The country mainly purchased fruits and vegetables from Thailand, China and theUS.
With the positive outcomes in 2017 and the first quarter of 2018, Vietnam isexpected to gross 10 billion USD from exporting fruits and vegetables in the nearfuture.
The country earned a record 3.45 billion USD from fruit and vegetable exportsin 2017, a year-on-year rise of 40.5 percent, much higher than traditionalstaples like rice, crude oil and coffee.-VNA
VNA
