Vietnam’s fruit, vegetable exports growing

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Nguyen Xuan Cuong said the export potential of fruits and vegetables is huge, with the products key to restructuring the sector.

Cuong said the ministry has focused on promoting the use of modern technologies in agriculture, aiming to create quality products, thus improving the sector’s competitiveness and expanding export markets.

“Exports of fruits and vegetables will grow in the upcoming time. The sector should develop association models for investing in hi-tech agriculture. Businesses should work with farmer collectives to establish concentrated raw material areas,” he added.

The minister said growing the agricultural sector, and fruits and vegetables in particular, would largely depend on export value and changes in the market.

However, if businesses and farmers build production chains of safe fruits and vegetables together with hi-tech agriculture development, the export target of US$3 billion this year will be reached, he said.

Exports of fruits and vegetables hit $1.38 biliion in the first five months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 38 per cent.

China, the US, Japan and South Korea markets accounted for nearly 84 per cent of total vegetable and fruit export value. Vietnamese fruits and vegetables have been exported to about 60 markets globally.

Many farmers have applied the safe agricultural production processes of VietGap and GlobalGap, giving Vietnamese fruits and vegetables a foothold in foreign markets.

According to the ministry of agriculture, restructuring of the sector is going well, with export structure focused on commodities such as coffee, rubber and fruit.

Dinh Cao Khue, general director of Dong Giao Food Export Company said their products have been exported to 50 countries thanks to a closed supply chain of materials, collection, processing and trading.

“We have invested in specialised and concentrated material areas. Product quality should be priorities for both local consumption and exports,” Khue said.

Experts said export markets such as the US and Europe have potential but also high risk as they have strict requirements on product quality, so domestic producers should strictly follow health and safety requirements.

Vu Kim Hanh, chairwoman of the Vietnam High-quality Product Association said local agricultural producers should change their mindset in production and organising supply chains. Each segment should have standards to satisfy export markets’ requirements.