Fruit and vegetable export earnings grew by 32.2% to 215 million USDduring the first quarter of the year and are expected to hit a recordhigh of 1.2 billion USD this year, radio The Voice of Vietnam (VOV)reported.
The radio cited the Vietnam Fruit and VegetablesAssociation (Vinafruit) as saying that key exported products in thereviewed period included dragon fruit, bananas, mangos, longans, litchi,star apples, rambutan and grapefruit.
The majority of fruit andvegetable exporters are optimistic that 2014 will be an economicallythriving year as the backlog of orders from traditional markets, such asRussia, Japan, Ukraine and Belarus have increased dramatically.
Thetop five importers of Vietnamese fruit and vegetables are China, Japan,the US, Thailand and Malaysia. China is the largest consumer,accounting for nearly 35% of the total value.
Last year, Chinapurchased 302 million USD worth of Vietnamese fruit and vegetables, anannual increase of 38.77%, and market analysts forecast this growingtrend will continue in 2014.
In an unexpected turn of events,dragon fruit exports rose significantly in markets throughout the worldin 2013, a trend that is predicted to carry over for 2014.
Vietnamexported 1,300 tonnes of dragon fruit to the US, more than 1,000 tonnesto Japan, and 300 tonnes to the Republic of Korea.
Since late March, exports of dragon fruit have also been picking up steam in the New Zealand, the RoK, and Taiwan markets.
Inanother unanticipated market shift, China, Singapore, and the RoK havesuddenly increased imports of Vietnamese bananas. Currently, China ispoised to purchase around 20-30 tonnes of bananas, and Japan needsbetween 15-20 tonnes per day.
Though prices of bananas traded at farms have doubled, the products are in short supply.
LeSi Cong, Director of Laba Da Lat Company that grows the Laba bananavariety, says his company has failed to meet Japan’s market demand for10-20 tonnes a day since late 2013.
Besides Japan, the UK, Russia and Ukraine have also expressed a keen interest in Laba bananas.
Thecountry currently produces roughly 1.4 million tonnes of bananas perannum and its cultivation area representing approximately 19% of thetotal acreage devoted to fruit farming, making bananas one of the keypromising export products.
However, banana farming isspontaneous, and the marketplace is hindered by a lack of coordinationin the supply chain and consistency in business transactions with alarge number of small growers spreading out over a wide area, pushingpurchasing and transport costs up.
Average fruit and vegetableexport earnings have grown more than 30% annually over the past fouryears from 460 million USD in 2010 to 623 million USD in 2011, 829million USD in 2012, and 1.04 billion USD in 2013.
However,competition remains weak and many fruits and specialty exports sufferfrom quality defects and are returned back due to bacterial infectionsand other contamination.
For instance, Japan is a strict market.When they detect any insects in a batch of fruit or vegetable exportsfrom Vietnam, all fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables are banned fromentering the market.
Vietnam’s preservation technology has yetto meet international requirements, and only a relatively few Vietnameseproducts have been licensed to penetrate the Japanese market.
Thissituation is manageable and could be rectified by Vietnam paying moreand proper attention to investment in scientific technology inprocessing and post-harvest preservation.
Furthermore, fruit andvegetable exports are overly dependent on the Chinese market which oftensees wide fluctuations, creating a great deal of uncertainty andinstability in the market.
To sharpen the competitive edge ofVietnamese products, clean production methods, such as VietGAP andGlobalGAP need to be applied universally in the market place bystakeholders in the industry, along with increased coordination ofexporting activities.
Nguyen Van Do, Director of Vietnam Academyof Agriculture Sciences (VAAS), says Vietnam has great potential forfruit and vegetable exports as its export volume makes up only 10% oftotal production volume and accounts for only 0.1% of total globaltrade.-VNA
The radio cited the Vietnam Fruit and VegetablesAssociation (Vinafruit) as saying that key exported products in thereviewed period included dragon fruit, bananas, mangos, longans, litchi,star apples, rambutan and grapefruit.
The majority of fruit andvegetable exporters are optimistic that 2014 will be an economicallythriving year as the backlog of orders from traditional markets, such asRussia, Japan, Ukraine and Belarus have increased dramatically.
Thetop five importers of Vietnamese fruit and vegetables are China, Japan,the US, Thailand and Malaysia. China is the largest consumer,accounting for nearly 35% of the total value.
Last year, Chinapurchased 302 million USD worth of Vietnamese fruit and vegetables, anannual increase of 38.77%, and market analysts forecast this growingtrend will continue in 2014.
In an unexpected turn of events,dragon fruit exports rose significantly in markets throughout the worldin 2013, a trend that is predicted to carry over for 2014.
Vietnamexported 1,300 tonnes of dragon fruit to the US, more than 1,000 tonnesto Japan, and 300 tonnes to the Republic of Korea.
Since late March, exports of dragon fruit have also been picking up steam in the New Zealand, the RoK, and Taiwan markets.
Inanother unanticipated market shift, China, Singapore, and the RoK havesuddenly increased imports of Vietnamese bananas. Currently, China ispoised to purchase around 20-30 tonnes of bananas, and Japan needsbetween 15-20 tonnes per day.
Though prices of bananas traded at farms have doubled, the products are in short supply.
LeSi Cong, Director of Laba Da Lat Company that grows the Laba bananavariety, says his company has failed to meet Japan’s market demand for10-20 tonnes a day since late 2013.
Besides Japan, the UK, Russia and Ukraine have also expressed a keen interest in Laba bananas.
Thecountry currently produces roughly 1.4 million tonnes of bananas perannum and its cultivation area representing approximately 19% of thetotal acreage devoted to fruit farming, making bananas one of the keypromising export products.
However, banana farming isspontaneous, and the marketplace is hindered by a lack of coordinationin the supply chain and consistency in business transactions with alarge number of small growers spreading out over a wide area, pushingpurchasing and transport costs up.
Average fruit and vegetableexport earnings have grown more than 30% annually over the past fouryears from 460 million USD in 2010 to 623 million USD in 2011, 829million USD in 2012, and 1.04 billion USD in 2013.
However,competition remains weak and many fruits and specialty exports sufferfrom quality defects and are returned back due to bacterial infectionsand other contamination.
For instance, Japan is a strict market.When they detect any insects in a batch of fruit or vegetable exportsfrom Vietnam, all fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables are banned fromentering the market.
Vietnam’s preservation technology has yetto meet international requirements, and only a relatively few Vietnameseproducts have been licensed to penetrate the Japanese market.
Thissituation is manageable and could be rectified by Vietnam paying moreand proper attention to investment in scientific technology inprocessing and post-harvest preservation.
Furthermore, fruit andvegetable exports are overly dependent on the Chinese market which oftensees wide fluctuations, creating a great deal of uncertainty andinstability in the market.
To sharpen the competitive edge ofVietnamese products, clean production methods, such as VietGAP andGlobalGAP need to be applied universally in the market place bystakeholders in the industry, along with increased coordination ofexporting activities.
Nguyen Van Do, Director of Vietnam Academyof Agriculture Sciences (VAAS), says Vietnam has great potential forfruit and vegetable exports as its export volume makes up only 10% oftotal production volume and accounts for only 0.1% of total globaltrade.-VNA
