Packing fresh coconut for export at Vina T&T Company. Photo: TL

Great opportunity

In response to a huge opportunity in the billion-people Chinese market, domestic fresh coconut exporting enterprises have prepared necessary conditions for Vietnamese coconuts to dominate this market.

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tung, General Director of Vina T&T Group, said that with good experience in exporting fresh coconuts to many large markets in the world such as the US, Canada, etc., the company is confident that it can compete fairly with coconuts from other countries such as Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia in the Chinese market. In particular, Vietnamese coconuts have the advantage of being sweeter and cooler than coconuts from other countries, which can be preferred by consumers. In addition, with the development of preservation technology, Vietnamese coconuts can be stored for up to 80 days, helping to ensure the quality of the coconuts.

“Currently, Vina T&T is building a very large factory in Ben Tre specializing in fresh coconuts to take advantage of the Chinese market and has completed about 70% of the plan. From now until China issues a growing area code and a packaging factory code, we will be the pioneer in exporting to this market,” said Mr. Tung.

Similarly, Mr. Bui Duong Thuat, Director of Mekong Import-Export Company, the company products have been exported to more than 10 markets around the world, including many demanding markets such as the US, Europe, Australia, etc. Therefore, although the growing area code and packaging factory code have not been applied, Mr. Thuat is confident that Mekong Company's working process fully meets the criteria required by China. It is forecasted that next year, Mekong's export output will increase by 30-40% compared to the current figure of 5 million fruits. Mr. Thuat also plans to gradually expand capacity along with raw material areas to meet market demand.

However, some businesses expressed concerns about the risks in meeting the huge demand of this market. Because the world market only defines coconut as a fruit for drinking water. In fact, in Vietnam's coconut raw material area, there are two types: coconut for drinking water and industrial coconut for producing products such as coconut milk, coconut oil... These two types of coconut also have different characteristics. The former harvest time is every 21-22 days, if left longer; the coconut tree will "hang" (unable to produce fruit). While later has a harvest time of up to several months, if harvested early, the industrial coconut tree will also have the phenomenon of "hanging".

A large fresh coconut exporter in Ben Tre said that the demand for drinking coconuts in the Chinese market is only concentrated in the period from April to July every year. At this time, the demand for fresh coconuts will be very high, while the remaining months have almost no demand. This means that during the peak period, the fresh coconut market may be "out of stock", even at risk of exploiting industrial coconuts to supply traders, leading to the risk of decreased productivity and lack of raw materials for industrial coconut processing factories. Meanwhile, fresh coconut exporting enterprises also face the risk of high input material prices, affecting the supply to traditional markets such as the US, Europe, Australia, etc. This reality shows that effectively exploiting the potential of the Chinese market is not an easy task for coconut enterprises, requiring enterprises to have careful and cautious calculations.

Solutions for sustainability

In response to such above concerns and in order to effectively exploit opportunities from the Chinese market in particular and other export markets in general, Mr. Cao Ba Dang Khoa, General Secretary of the Vietnam Coconut Association, said that control work needs to be strictly implemented right at the raw material area to prevent improper harvesting activities. In addition to the control of functional units, according to Mr. Khoa, enterprises also need to control each other to ensure efficiency and sustainable development of the industry.

Mr. Khoa also emphasized the need for a systematic planning of raw material areas. Currently, although many enterprises are investing on a scale of 100 - 500 hectares, these are only small waves, not enough to ensure sustainability for the industry. In addition, quality standards, transparency in cultivation and production processes to conquer customers in high-end markets must be highly paid attention to.

Mr. Khoa said that the Vietnam Coconut Association is actively contacting partners in China and receiving great support. In September 2024, the Vietnam Coconut Association led a delegation of more than 10 enterprises and cooperatives to attend many fruit and food fairs in China. According to the plan, on September 27, the Association signed 2 cooperation agreements (MOUs) with Jiangnan wholesale market and Guangdong Fruit and Vegetable Association to create sustainable cooperation, adding motivation for Vietnamese enterprises to access the market.

According to the Vietnam Coconut Association, with the signing of the Protocol allowing official coconut exports to China, the export turnover of fresh coconuts this year is expected to reach about 250 million USD, accounting for 25% of the total export turnover of the coconut industry.