Fruit and vegetable exports could earn 6 billion USD in 2023

Fruit and vegetable exports maintain growth momentum

The Import-Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) cited data from the General Department of Customs, saying that the export value of Vietnam's fruits and vegetables in October 2023 reached 608.8 million USD, down 8.8% compared to September 2023, but up 99.8% compared to October 2022. In the first 10 months of 2023, the export value of fruits and vegetables reached 4.8 billion USD, up 75.5% over the same period in 2022.

Durian exports expected to reach 2.5 billion USD in 2023

Fruit and vegetable exports continue to be a bright spot in the country's commodity exports. Although October 2023 decreased compared to September 2023, it still increased sharply compared to October 2022. This contributes to increasing the export value of fruits and vegetables to about 5.8 to 6 billion USD in 2023.

In the export market structure, the export value of fruits and vegetables to the Chinese market accounted for the largest proportion in the first 10 months of 2023 and had a very high growth rate, reaching 3.2 billion USD, an increase of 164.7% over the same period in 2022.

In addition to the Chinese market, fruit and vegetable exports to markets such as South Korea, the Netherlands, and the UAE also increased significantly in the first 10 months of 2023.

Notably, in the latest report from the General Department of Customs, Vietnam's durian exports in October 2023 could reach a record high of 450 - 500 million USD. In the first 10 months of 2023, the cumulative value of durian exports reached 2.2 billion USD.

With the above results, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tung, Vice President of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, forecasts that in the last two months of the year, our country can earn about 200 - 300 million USD from exporting durian, raising the total export turnover of this item in the year to 2.4 - 2.5 billion USD.

Along with durian, grapefruit has also become a bright spot in the picture of fruit and vegetable exports because according to preliminary data from the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, in 2023, grapefruit was listed as a fruit with high export turnover. In the first 8 months of 2023, grapefruit exports reached 29.6 million USD, an increase of 144% over the same period in 2022, the strongest increase in the past 5 years.

Good control of product quality

Although the export of fruits and vegetables is recording bright spots, export enterprises still need to control the quality of products well and strictly ensure import regulations.

According to Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen - General Secretary of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, China is still the largest customer of Vietnamese fruits and vegetables, accounting for nearly 65% of the turnover. In addition to the popular durian, Vietnamese fruits and vegetables exported to this market will also include jackfruit, dragon fruit, etc. from now until the end of the year.

This year, there have been a number of notices from the General Administration of Customs of China regarding violations of plant quarantine requirements for shipments of bananas, jackfruit, mangoes, longans, dragon fruits and durians exported from Vietnam to the Chinese market.

In cases of violations of plant quarantine regulations as notified by China, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will temporarily suspend the relevant codes to investigate the cause and apply appropriate remedial measures.

Therefore, businesses and localities need to control quality well to minimize the fraud of growing area codes, affecting the brand of exported Vietnamese fruits and vegetables.

At the same time, build production models according to VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards, fully meeting quarantine regulations from import markets. Only then can the fruit and vegetable industry and fruit and vegetable exports achieve sustainable growth in the coming years.

For the EU, in the past 10 months, the European Union (EU) has issued nearly 3,900 food safety warnings on imported agricultural and food products, including 55 warnings on agricultural and food products from Vietnam. This number has decreased by about 15% compared to 2022.

Fruits and vegetables were the most warned product group with 23 cases, followed by seafood products, confectionery and other processed products. Of these, violations due to chemical residues accounted for the highest number with nearly 60%.

According to regulations on food safety and disease safety, every 6 months, the EU will review all enterprises exporting agricultural and food products. If the regulations are well complied with, the EU will reduce the frequency of inspections, regulations and procedures for imported agricultural and food products from Vietnam.

The European Union (EU) is one of Vietnam’s important export markets for agricultural and food products. However, this is also a challenging market with constantly changing measures on food safety and animal and plant quarantine.

Therefore, the problem now is that Vietnamese enterprises need to understand the regulations to promptly adjust production to meet the new standards. At the same time, relevant agencies also need to accompany enterprises in the strategy of exporting goods to this market.

According to Mr. Ngo Xuan Nam - Deputy Director of the Vietnam SPS Office, in October 2023, the EU issued 103 draft notices to solicit opinions from WTO members on changes to food safety and animal and plant quarantine measures. When goods arrive at the port of entry without meeting the standards set by the importer, there are only two ways to handle them: return or destroy. The risk of being warned also comes from improper transportation procedures, especially fresh agricultural products.

Mr. Ngo Xuan Nam recommends that enterprises exporting to the EU market who want to respond to market signals must grasp and understand these notices and draft notices correctly to apply them in practice. Because regulations on food safety and disease safety, SPS regulations are mandatory regulations.

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