Revealing the 'big customer' spending more than 4 billion USD to import Vietnamese fruits and vegetables

Good signals from the export market in the last months of the year show that for the first time in history, Vietnam's fruit and vegetable exports could reach 7.2 billion USD, in which China continues to be the largest market for Vietnam's fruit and vegetable exports.

Open market

Vietnam is witnessing a major turning point for the industry. export agricultural products, especially vegetables and fruits. As of November, our country's fruit and vegetable export turnover reached 6.6 billion USD (up 27% over the same period and 900 million USD higher than the whole year of 2023).

According to the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, with strengths in fruit and vegetable production and the welcome of the international market, fruit and vegetable export turnover could reach 7.2 billion USD, far exceeding the target set by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) this year of 6 - 6.5 billion USD.

China continues to be the largest market for fruit and vegetable exports from Vietnam. As of the end of October, fruit and vegetable exports to China reached more than 4 billion USD, accounting for 66.5% of Vietnam's total fruit and vegetable export turnover (up nearly 30% over the same period in 2023). Currently, 12 types of Vietnamese fruit have been officially exported to this market, with the total turnover this year forecast to reach about 4.5 billion USD.

Durian is a major export item to China (photo: Duong Hung).

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said that Vietnam has 5,840 fruit growing areas that have been granted export codes by importing countries, of which China accounts for 40.2% with 2,350 fruit growing areas of our country granted export codes.

Statistics from the General Department of Customs show that by the end of October this year, the export turnover of fruits and vegetables to the US market is estimated to reach nearly 287 million USD, a sharp increase of 35% over the same period last year, second only to China. Many fruit products, vegetable Vietnamese products are increasingly popular in this market such as fresh coconut, passion fruit...

In addition, Vietnam's fruit and vegetable export turnover to other major markets such as Korea, Thailand, Japan, Australia, the United Arab Emirates, etc. all recorded positive growth.

For the Australian market, in October, the first 1.5 tons of passion fruit were exported to this market, opening up a great opportunity for the Vietnamese fruit and vegetable industry to enter the market considered the most demanding in the world .

Many items have different values

According to Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen - General Secretary of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association (VINAFRUIT), Vietnam is a tropical country with many types of fruits and vegetables with regional characteristics that cannot be found elsewhere.

Vietnam’s record fruit and vegetable exports are largely due to durian exports. As of November, durian exports accounted for about 45% of the country’s total fruit and vegetable exports, with a value of $3.1 billion, up more than 45% over the same period last year.

Mr. Nguyen expects that durian export turnover could reach 3.5 billion USD before the end of the year, affirming the position of this fruit in the global market.

Vietnamese bananas are also dominating the Chinese market (photo: Dan Viet).

It is known that, in addition to durian Vietnamese bananas are also dominating the Chinese market. Mr. Nguyen affirmed that Vietnamese bananas with high quality and low price are welcomed in the billion-people market and almost monopolize this market. This has helped bananas become the third largest fruit and vegetable export of Vietnam with a total export turnover of 305 million USD in the first 10 months of the year, an increase of 27.6% over the same period last year.

In addition, in the past 10 months, many types of fruits and vegetables have seen strong increases in export value, such as: Longan exports reached 55 million USD, up 375% over the same period last year; almond exports reached 26 million USD, up 183% over the same period last year; areca nuts reached 34 million USD, up 120% over the same period last year.

According to Mr. Nguyen, thanks to the continuous improvement of quality and output, Vietnamese fruits and vegetables have gained a foothold in the international market. Mr. Nguyen recommends that in addition to increasing output, farmers must also try to maintain quality: "If we have quality, we will not be afraid of not having a place to sell."

According to experts, to affirm its position and continue to develop the export market, Vietnam needs to focus on build and well manage the growing areas to create raw material areas that meet sustainable export standards and control harvesting. At the same time, updating technical requirements from importers will help Vietnamese fruits and vegetables penetrate large markets, expanding the export market.

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