Fruit, vegetable exports see high potential, tough requirements

Processing pine apples for export (Photo: VNA)

HCM City(VNA) – Vietnamese vegetables and fruits are eyeing various potential marketsfrom Asia to Europe, and from the Middle East to North America and America, inwhich quality requirements and standards are high, prompting domestic exportersto work harder to conquer, said experts at a forum in Ho Chi Minh City on March1.

Le Thanh Hoa, ViceDirector of the Agro Processing and Market Development Authority (Agrotrade), said that over the recent years, fruits and vegetable have been among the groups withexport revenue of over 3 billion USD each year. The figure reached 3.37 billionUSD in 2022.

Last year, many kindsof fruits such as passion fruit, durian and banana were allowed to beexported to China through official channels, while Vietnamese pomelo was excepted to the US, limes and pomelos to New Zealand, and fresh longan toJapan.

Illustrative image (Source: vneconomy.vn)

In the first twomonths of this year, the export of fruits and vegetables hit 592 million USD, up 17.8%compared to the same period in 2022. China remained the major market ofVietnam, consuming 57.5% of the country's total fruit and vegetable exports.

Hoa also highlighted advantages that Vietnamese fruits and vegetables areenjoying in other markets, especially those from free trade agreements (FTA).

Jos Leeters, Directorof Bureau Leeters, underlined that Vietnam is eyeing great opportunities in theEU where the market scale is 62 billion EUR (66.05 billion USD), or 43% of the world total fruitand vegetable trade value.

Particularly, the EU-Vietnam FTA is bringing 94% of all tax lines to zero,making Vietnam more competitive than Thailand and China, he noted.

Nguyen Minh Phuong, Director of the Asia-Africa Market Department under theMinistry of Industry and Trade, said that due to low supply and high demand, theMiddle East and North Africa are also promising markets for Vietnamese farmproduce.

However, experts underscored that the major challenge for Vietnamese fruits andvegetables is the increasing requirements in international market, especially those in origin traceability and food safety.

Pham Minh Thang fromthe Agrotrade said that Vietnamese firms have faced a lack of information onmarket demands and access to distribution channels in imported countries.

Meanwhile, the exportof fresh vegetables to other markets is encountering obstacles due totransportation difficulties, while the rate of processed products remainsmodest.

In order to promotefruit and vegetable exports, Thang advised producers and exporters to actively renovate their farming techniques to increase their product quality,while strengthening processing and trade promotion activities, diversifyingtrading activities in digital platforms, and applying information technology in the sale of farm produce./.

VNA