Vietnam's fruit and vegetable exports have been and are facing the opportunity to become a commodity with an export turnover of 10 billion USD as a series of fruits continue to open their markets.
Vietnamese fruits are about to receive good news
According to information from the Plant Protection Department (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), it is expected that by 2025, Vietnamese passion fruit will be officially licensed. exported to the US market. This is the result of negotiations between Vietnam and the US on phytosanitary measures for this fruit.
The technical negotiations have been completed, and the two sides are currently completing the necessary legal procedures. The permission for passion fruit to enter the US market promises to create great momentum for the Vietnamese fruit and vegetable industry to continue expanding exports, especially to other demanding markets.
Previously, on September 9, the Plant Protection Department and the Australian Embassy held a ceremony to announce the export of Vietnamese passion fruit to Australia and the export of plums from Australia to Vietnam.
Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Andrew Goledzinowski assessed that this is a new milestone in cooperation between the two countries, especially in agricultural sector. After mango, longan, lychee and dragon fruit, passion fruit becomes the 5th fresh fruit from Vietnam to be officially exported to Australia.
Since the beginning of the year, fruit and vegetables have been the export item that has recorded the highest growth rate in the country's agricultural sector. Surpassing the forecast target from the beginning of the year (fruit and vegetable exports reaching 6 billion USD), this year's fruit and vegetable exports have set a new record, expected to bring in 7.2 billion USD.
By 2025, with many favorable factors, Vietnamese fruits also aim to bring in at least 8 billion USD. If we successfully conquer this milestone, our country will be in the top 5 countries in the world in exporting fruits.
Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen, General Secretary of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, shared: “In 2022, fruit and vegetable export turnover will only reach 3.3 billion USD. Last year, we had a record of 5.6 billion USD, and this year we are expected to earn from 7.1 to 7.2 billion USD.”
In the first 11 months of the year, the 10 largest markets for Vietnamese fruits and vegetables continued to grow impressively. Thailand increased by nearly 80%, while South Korea, Russia, the United States and the Middle East market also increased by 36-40%.
Expanding the market thanks to free trade agreements and negotiations to open the door to many new types of fruits and vegetables, Vietnam is very confident with next year's goals.
Topping the list of exported fruits and vegetables is durian with an estimated value of 3.3 billion USD. Coming in second is dragon fruit with about 435 million USD, however, compared to last year, the item recorded a decline because China reduced imports by 40% in 2024. Coming in third are bananas and mangoes and some other items such as jackfruit, coconut, watermelon...
New record expected for 2025
Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen expects that the export turnover of fruits and vegetables will reach 7.2 billion USD this year and 8 billion USD next year. In particular, there are many new factors appearing such as frozen durian, fresh coconut exported to China, passion fruit is currently negotiating with the US for export, there are new products participating.
In addition, with products such as passion fruit, grapefruit, fresh coconut, frozen durian, these are new products that have just opened the market, businesses are still struggling with the issue of applying for growing area codes, packaging facility codes, and establishing relationships with foreign partners. In other words, businesses are currently in the preparation process. Some products such as grapefruit and coconut have exported the first shipments but not much. Next year, these products will be able to promote their advantages.
Mr. Nguyen Phong Phu, Technical Director of Vina T&T Group, said that enterprises processing and exporting vegetables and fruits in general and fruits in particular are facing a great opportunity to increase export turnover. The reason is that the world market demand for this product is increasing, while Vietnam is doing a very good job of opening the market. With the official signing of the Protocol on phytosanitary requirements and food safety for frozen durian exported from Vietnam to China; Protocol on phytosanitary requirements for fresh coconut exported from Vietnam to China, the door to a large market has opened for two key products of the vegetable and fruit industry. On the other hand, the quality of Vietnamese fruits is also increasingly improved, meeting the standard requirements of each importing country, thereby increasing competitiveness when penetrating many high-quality markets.
At the end of November, at Phu Huu A Industrial Cluster (Mai Dam town, Chau Thanh district, Hau Giang province), Hanh Nguyen Logistics Joint Stock Company held the opening ceremony of an agricultural irradiation plant with a capacity of 1,000 tons of products/day and night.
Along with the deployment of irradiation machines, Hanh Nguyen Logistics also upgraded the storage system to 23,000 pallets, providing preliminary processing, processing, freezing, and packaging services that meet international standards such as HACCP and FSSC 22000 to help improve the quality of agricultural products, including exported fruits and vegetables.
Mr. Dao Trong Khoa, Chairman of the Vietnam Logistics Business Association, said that the export of agricultural, forestry and fishery products is expected to reach 62 billion USD in 2024. This is due to the contribution of Hanh Nguyen Logistics, which has pioneered irradiation and cold storage technology, as well as its multi-service one-stop-shop motto, which has contributed to bridging the way for agricultural products to reach the world.
However, fruit and vegetable exports are also facing many difficulties as countries increase inspections of imported goods. For example, recently, the Vietnam SPS Office (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) sent a notice to the Plant Protection Department and the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association regarding the amendment of Regulation (EU) 2019/1793 on temporarily strengthening official controls and emergency measures to manage the import of certain goods from third countries into the EU. Accordingly, for Vietnamese durian, the EU temporarily increased the frequency of border inspections from 10% to 20%.
The reason is due to non-compliance with regulations on pesticide residue levels. Accordingly, EU authorities have discovered many active ingredients of pesticides with high residues on durian such as: Carbendazim, Fipronil, Azoxystrobin, Dimethomorph, Metalaxyl, Lambda-cyhalothrin, Acetamiprid. These active ingredients are regulated by the EU with maximum residue limits (MRL) from 0.005-0.1 mg/kg depending on the type.
For dragon fruit, chili and okra, the EU maintains the same frequency of border inspections. Of which, the inspection frequency for dragon fruit is 30%, chili and okra are 50%. These three products must be accompanied by pesticide residue analysis results when imported into the EU market.
Therefore, experts believe that, along with ensuring quality standards, businesses need to promote processing, focusing on deep processing, both increasing added value and limiting seasonal risks such as fresh exports. Currently, the output of processed fresh fruits and vegetables is still low while the annual harvest is very large. This is also one of the main reasons why Vietnam's fruit and vegetable export turnover still accounts for a low proportion in markets and market areas with high demand for processed products such as Europe, the US, Korea, etc.
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