Fruit and vegetable exports to ASEAN markets remain modest

Thailand is the top importer of fruits and vegetables. Vietnam in ASEAN

According to the General Department of Customs, in February 2024, Vietnam exported 325.7 million USD worth of fruits and vegetables, although a slight increase of 1.4% compared to the 321 million USD recorded in the same period in 2023, it decreased by 33% compared to the results recorded in January 2024. In the first 2 months of 2024, Vietnam's fruit and vegetable export turnover reached 561.6 million USD, an increase of 11.8% over the same period in 2023.

In 2023, Vietnam will export 297.7 million USD worth of fruits and vegetables to the ASEAN market, focusing on 4 main markets: Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Laos.

In February 2024, Vietnam's largest fruit and vegetable export market was China, growing by 8.4%, contributing to bringing the turnover from this market to 195 million USD. With this result, China accounted for 60% of Vietnam's total fruit and vegetable export turnover in the month.

In addition to China, Vietnam also exported fruits and vegetables to 28 other markets. Of which, the second largest fruit and vegetable export market of Vietnam in the month was South Korea with 19.2 million USD, up 13.6% in turnover compared to the same period in 2023. Next was the US with 17.1 million USD, down 8.8%; Japan reached 10.19 million USD, down 14.9%...

In February 2024, Vietnam exported fruits and vegetables to 6 ASEAN markets with a total value of 19.31 million USD, down 13% compared to the 22.2 million USD recorded in the same period in 2023. Of which, Thailand was the largest export market with 9.82 million USD, accounting for 50.8% of Vietnam's total fruit and vegetable export turnover to ASEAN.

Malaysia is the second largest fruit and vegetable export market in the bloc with 4.11 million USD; followed by Singapore with 2.75 million USD; Cambodia with 1.19 million USD; Laos with 1.09 million USD and Indonesia with 0.35 million USD.

In the ASEAN bloc, fruit and vegetable exports to Thailand increased by 18.7% and to Cambodia by 22.6%. In contrast, the value of fruit and vegetable exports to Laos decreased by 67%, to Indonesia by 44% and to Malaysia by 30% compared to the same period.

In 2023, Vietnam will export 297.7 million USD worth of fruits and vegetables to ASEAN, focusing on 4 main markets: Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Laos. This is a nearby market, Vietnam has advantages in logistics costs and import tax rates of only 0 - 5% while some other markets apply tax rates of 30 - 40%.

In addition, the ASEAN market does not have high requirements for plant quarantine and food safety, making it suitable for businesses to test exports before expanding to further markets.

Therefore, experts say that this export figure is still modest compared to the ASEAN market with more than 690 million people, so the export turnover of fruits and vegetables to the intra-bloc market should be calculated in billions of USD.

Is it easy to expand export opportunities?

Thailand is currently the largest import market of Vietnamese goods in ASEAN, and allows the import of 5 types of fresh fruits from Vietnam and is considering some other types of fresh fruits such as rambutan, coconut, passion fruit... The remaining markets such as Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore do not have restrictions on the number of types of imported fruits and vegetables.

Ms. Le Thi Mai Anh, Head of the Southeast Asia (ASEAN) and Regional Cooperation Department of the Asia-Africa Market Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) assessed that although there is potential and a large market, ASEAN is a place with fierce competitive pressure because the structure of agricultural products is quite similar, so we can only export processed vegetables and fruits or fresh products during off-season periods.

Besides, this market also has many trade barriers, so if businesses only focus on exporting fresh fruit, there will be many difficulties and fierce competition.

Take the Thai market, for example, with a population of over 66 million. Bringing Vietnamese agricultural products deeper into this country is not simple, even though there is a diverse distribution channel system, creating many opportunities to penetrate these systems and reach Thai consumers.

Therefore, Ms. Le Thi Mai Anh recommends that businesses need to focus on developing processed products from vegetables and building brands, eye-catching and suitable designs, which will be a good direction to exploit this promising market.

On the other hand, to increase the export turnover of agricultural products in general and vegetables and fruits in particular to this market, Vietnamese enterprises need to strengthen links with distribution channels as well as promote and promote trade.

Mr. Le Thanh Hoa - Deputy Director of the Department of Quality, Processing and Market Development (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) - also said that Vietnam has many advantages to promote fruit and vegetable exports in general.

Because in addition to production capacity, Vietnam also has dozens of free trade agreements, creating conditions for negotiations to open the door for fruit and vegetable products to many different markets.

To effectively exploit the export market potential in general and the ASEAN market in particular, Mr. Le Thanh Hoa recommends that industries need to have plans to organize production according to good practice standards for each type of fruit and vegetable that meets customer requirements. Standardizing the cultivation process ensures monitoring of food safety risks from planting, care, harvesting, and preliminary processing. At the same time, it is necessary to build a chain of links, organize production linked to trade and processing, domestic consumption and export. Applying mechanization and technical advances to improve the quality and reduce the cost of fruit and vegetable products.

Source: https://congthuong.vn/xuat-khau-rau-qua-sang-thi-truong-asean-van-con-khiem-ton-309276.html