However, recently many problems have arisen related to quality, requiring immediate correction.
Phenomena of concern
When the durian season in the West ended but the East had not yet entered, traders started buying young durians to avoid a shortage of supply. In mid-June, authorities in many Southeast localities had to issue warnings about the harvesting of young durians.
Specifically, Mr. Nguyen Van Tu, Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Da Huoai District (Lam Dong) advised farmers and traders not to harvest durian that is not ripe enough to export to the Chinese market. This will affect the reputation of local durian.
Not only in Lam Dong, the leader of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Binh Phuoc province also said that there is a situation of competition to buy and sell durian, including the situation of picking young durian. Picking young durian will affect the reputation and brand of Vietnamese durian, durian growers need to be alert, not for immediate profit.
Dragon fruit processing facility for export in Tien Giang
According to Mr. Nguyen Van Tu, the district has approved 7 durian growing area codes with an area of 325 hectares. Compliance with regulations on codes and quality will contribute to protecting the Da Huoai durian brand, increasing the value of exported agricultural products, improving people's lives and increasing local budget revenue, while also creating favorable conditions for 39 growing areas (1,625 hectares) awaiting approval. Therefore, controlling durian quality must be done seriously and resolutely to protect the reputation of this billion-dollar product.
Similarly, a more recent story (June 27) was that the Vietnam National Sanitation and Plant Quarantine and Information Center (SPS Vietnam ) announced that the Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced that Vietnam 's dried red chili pepper products violated food safety regulations.
Specifically, the batch of dried chili produced by Long Thanh Company Limited (Hai Duong) in 2022 had a tricyclazone residue level of 0.02 - 0.04 mg/kg, exceeding the permissible level of 0.01 mg/kg in Korea. According to the leader of the Plant Protection Department (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), this is only an isolated case and does not affect Vietnam 's chili exports to Korea. However, exporting enterprises must be responsible for strictly complying with the requirements of the import market, avoiding affecting the reputation of Vietnamese agricultural products in general.
In the EU market, for many years, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, products such as bell peppers, okra and dragon fruit have been monitored for quality and have been subject to quality inspections at the border gate at a frequency of 20-50%. This means that the above agricultural products have not changed compared to EU regulations, while instant noodles have been removed from the quality monitoring list.
It can be said that the quality and safety of Vietnamese agricultural products in general have been constantly improved over the years. However, the above stories show that a large number of farmers, traders, and businesses still have a mentality of snatching, which can affect the reputation of Vietnamese agricultural products when exported.
Increase quality towards the target of tens of billions of dollars
Returning from a trip to study durian export experiences in Thailand, Mr. Nguyen Van Muoi, Deputy Head of the Southern Branch of the Vietnam Gardening Association, said: Thailand also encountered many problems related to durian quality like Vietnam at present, especially picking durians when they were not old enough, and poor quality durians. But before, they almost had a monopoly on the market, so they were not too worried.
Since having more competitors, Thailand has focused more on quality instead of competing on quantity and price. For example, they used to only use a sweetness meter to monitor the quality of durians, but now they have come up with a way to measure the pulp (dryness) to calculate whether the durian is ripe enough to harvest. Previously, this dryness was 32%, but now it is up to 35%.
"Thailand has a series of solutions to limit the harvest of young durians, such as putting them into law. Anyone who violates them will be subject to criminal prosecution, not just administrative fines. To effectively implement this law, in durian growing areas, they have specialized monitoring agencies. These units have the task and responsibility to check the quality before the durian is harvested. That is the reason why the quality of Thai durian is increasingly high. In addition, they are constantly creating new varieties with superior quality to dominate the market in higher segments. In Vietnam , the growing area has recently increased sharply and exceeded 110,000 hectares. But the problem is not the area, but the quality of our products. Because the Chinese market is very large, we must constantly improve the quality to meet market standards. We not only have the Chinese market but the Asian market around the world is very large," said Mr. Muoi.
Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen, General Secretary of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, commented: Vietnam has a particularly favorable geographical position with a large consumer market in China, but we have not yet fully exploited the potential of this market. Vietnam still lags behind Thailand and Ecuador in terms of fruit and vegetable export turnover to China. We should aim to exploit our advantages to the fullest and set a goal of gradually surpassing both countries to become the largest supplier of goods to China. If we can do so, the export value of fruit and vegetables could reach tens of billions of USD. This is something we have the potential and ability to do.
Mr. Hoang Trung, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, said: For chili alone, the Korean market imports over 10 million USD each year. For current chili export markets, including Korea, the Plant Protection Department has repeatedly instructed businesses to strictly implement the requirements of their partners. Specifically, one of the prerequisites for chili batches before exporting is to bring samples to laboratories for testing to eliminate chemical residues that are banned by Korea.
In addition to Korea, we are also negotiating to sign a protocol on official chili exports to China. Once the protocol is signed with China, Vietnam 's chili export output will increase sharply in the coming years. "Improving the quality and safety of agricultural products is an issue that the agricultural sector has been promoting for many years. This is a long-term and continuous issue to improve the quality, brand and reputation of Vietnamese agricultural products not only for export but also for the domestic market. This is one of the key tasks of the agricultural sector," said Mr. Trung.
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