Durian is a key export fruit of Vietnam in 2023 (Photo: baochinhphu.vn)

With robust export of fruits and vegetables, the industry has set a typical example for quick transformation in the context of economic difficulties to tap the potential and expand global reach.

Statistics of the Import-Export Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade showed that fruit and vegetable exports totalled 510 million USD in January, representing a rise of 24.9% over December and 112.1% against the same month last year.

Looking back at 2023, many fruits saw impressive growth in export, such as durian by 430.1% to 2.2 billion USD. The export revenue of dragon fruits reached 523 million USD, banana 242 million USD, jackfruit 168 million USD and mango 154 million USD.

Bright prospects are fuelled by the huge demand of the Chinese market, with Vietnam negotiating for official export of more types of fruits coupled with efforts to promote exports to other markets such as the US, the EU, Australia and the Republic of Korea, according to the department.

The department forecast the export of fruits and vegetables will reach 6.5 billion USD this year, after setting a record of nearly 5.6 billion USD in 2023.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan said that the thinking needs to be changed to keep up with the market-based mechanism.

“Vietnam is open, our market is the whole world and we are also a part of the global market. There is no certain data on how much the world consumes each year. Thus, the thinking must be changed,” he said.

The competition is growing fiercer, he said, adding that the planning for the agricultural sector also needs to be renovated. “The planning must be more market-based. We must have a framework to guide production following market signals.”

He also said that the industry should take advantage of trade agreements to expand global reach, besides domestic consumption.

Huge potential

There is huge potential for the fruit and vegetable industry to expand export which has just accounted for 2-3 % of the global fruit and vegetable export revenue.

General Secretary of the Vietnam Vegetable and Fruit Association Dang Phuc Nguyen was optimistic, forecasting that the fruit and vegetable exports would expand at 15-20% in 2024 to set a new record high with the value to exceed 6 billion USD or even hit 7 billion USD.

The fruit export is growing at a good pace, but greater effort is needed to open markets for more types of fruits.

The market share of Vietnam in the global fruit and vegetable market remained modest.

For example, the EU is the largest fruit and vegetable import market in the world with an annual value of up to 150 billion USD, but Vietnam’s export accounted for just 0.18%.

Nguyen said the EU is the third largest importer of Vietnam’s fruits and vegetables, a potential market where Vietnam could take advantage of the EU- Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) to boost exports.

It is important that Vietnam enhance product quality to meet global standards such as GlobalGap in order to expand to highly demanding markets like the EU.

Nguyen Hong Lam, Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Circular Agriculture, said Vietnam needs to develop value chains for agricultural products to improve quality and stabilise prices.