Vietnamese dragon fruits are sold at a fruit wholesale market in Sydey, Australia. (Photo: VNA) Hanoi(VNA) – Vietnam gained 934 million USD from fruit and vegetable exports in thefirst quarter of 2018, up 33.4 percent from the same period last year withChina, Japan and the United States remaining top importers.
According to theMinistry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), the country exported 284 millionUSD worth of fruits and vegetables in March while its imports amounted to 92million USD.
The imports offruits and vegetable in January-March saw a year-on-year surge of 47.7 percent,which mostly came from Thailand and China.
Farmers in theCentral Highlands province of Lam Dong and northern provinces suffered a severecrisis as retail prices of vegetables plunged during March. The hardest-hit wereradish and kohlrabi, whose price went down to only 1,000 – 1,200 VND per kg dueto oversupply.
Onion was fetchedat 3,000 VND per kg, a 4-fold decrease from the pre-Tet (Vietnam Lunar NewYear) holiday time, while prices of carrot and cabbage dropped from 25,900 VNDand 11,500 VND per kg to 20,900 VND and 9,500 per kg, respectively.
In 2018, thesector will focus on developing processing facilities for agricultural,forestry and seafood products, particularly vegetables, pork and chicken,serving both domestic and overseas markets, said Tran Van Cong, deputy head of the MARD's Agro Processing and Market Development Authority.
The country’s fruit and vegetable exports reached a record 3.5billion USD for year-on-year growth of 43.02 percent last year.
The top 10 markets were China (75.6 percent), Japan (3.64 percent),the United States (2.94 percent), the Republic of Korea (2.59 percent),the Netherlands (1.81 percent), Malaysia (1.43 percent), Taiwan (1.33percent), Thailand (1.03 percent), the United Arab Emirates (1.01 per cent) andRussia (0.85 percent). Other markets accounted for 7.77 percent.
In addition to the traditional markets, Vietnamese fruits alsomanaged to enter tough markets like the United States, the European Union,Japan, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.-VNA
VNA
