Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - A delegation of firms from Singaporewas expected to visit Vietnam at the end of this month to seek fruit andvegetable suppliers, as imports from China were declining due to the outbreakof novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
The Department of Asian – African Markets under the Ministry of Industry andTrade said this hopefully would be a solution to tackle difficulties caused bythe epidemic to Vietnam’s exports of agro-forestry-fishery products.
The epidemic, which was hitting a number of sectors of Singapore, forced thecountry to look for new markets, especially in neighbours like Malaysia, Indonesia,Thailand and Vietnam, to cope with interruptions in trade with China.
Singapore was mostly reliant on imports of agricultural products to meetdomestic demand.
This was also a significant opportunity for Vietnam to expandexports of fruits and vegetables to Singapore, diversify export markets andreduce reliance on China, the department said.
On February 18, Singapore announced a financial package worth 4.6 billion USDto cope with the epidemic, which would focus on providing support to companiesoperating in sectors suffering the most from the epidemic, including aviation,tourism and retail and low-income households.
According to the ministry, Vietnam’s exports of fruit and vegetable productsdecreased considerably, partly due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic.
Customs statistics showed that fruit and vegetable exports in January totalled 280million USD, representing a fall of 20.6 percent over the same month last year.
Although mainland China was the largest import market of Vietnamese fruit andvegetable products, accounting for 64.8 percent of Vietnam’s fruit andvegetable export value last year, exports to this market in January saw a dropof 32.4 percent to 173.5 million USD.
In January, fruit and vegetable exports to Thailand, Laos, Taiwan and Russiaincreased at 162 percent, 42 percent and 123 percent, respectively./.
VNA