The yield of exporting vegetable is greater in 2017

Vietnam has many advantages to promote fruit and vegetable export. Source: Internet

Great news from the end of year

According to report of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, as of the end of December, exporting fruit and vegetable estimated to achieve $US 3.45 billion, increased by 40.5% over the same period in 2016. China, Japan, US and Korea are the key import markets for Vietnam vegetable and fruit in the first 11 months of 2017 with the market share of 75.7%, 3.7%, 2.9% and 2.5% respectively. At the same time, the export value of fruits and vegetables increased sharply in Japan (70.6%), United Arab Emirates (57.4%) and China (54.9%).

Looking back at the "whole picture" of export over the past year, it is easy to see the positive signals follow each other. Not only promoting the export to traditional markets with a series of familiar goods. Notably, Vietnam has promoted many new products in a demanding market. Remarkably, at the end of June, the first shipment of irradiation mango in the North that was planted in Son La, officially exported to Australia. Although the export volume was not large, this was a good sign to open the prospect to exploit the potential of the fruit industry in the Northern provinces.

Most recently, on 26/12, the first shipment of star apple was exported to the United States. Star apple became the fifth fruit item of Vietnam to be exported to the United States besides dragon fruit, longan, rambutan and fabric. It is expected that in the future, the two parties will continue to complete procedures for exporting mango to the United States. In fact, Australia, New Zealand and the United States have some of the world's most stringent phytosanitary regulations. It means that when fruits are exported to Australia, the United States will create a brand and prestige in the international market, opening up new opportunities for Vietnam in the most demanding market.

Mr. Le Son Ha, Head of Plant Quarantine Department (Department of Plant Protection) assessed that: In recent time, although the export turnover of fruit and vegetable products has been increasing at an average rate of 30% per year, it is a good thing that the Vietnamese plant quarantine authorities have not received any information from the export markets regarding food safety and hygiene issues as well as pest control. This shows that the organization and supervision of domestic production are also improving day by day in comparison with many years ago.

Focusing deeply on processing

Looking at a longer process, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Quoc Doanh said that with the growth of export in the last 5 years, vegetables in general, especially fruits have been together. Other traditional commodities such as rice, coffee, rubber, cashew nut and pepper confirm their position and prestige of agricultural products in the world market. Vietnam has many advantages and potential to promote this sector. However, Vietnamese fruit production is facing two major challenges. The first is trade competition between countries and technical barriers from importing countries, especially quarantine requirements, increasing food safety. Secondly, the impact of climate change is more pronounced and stronger, with Vietnam being the most vulnerable country.

Regarding to the stable development of fruit and vegetable industry, Mr. Nguyen Huu Dat - Secretary General of Vietnam Vegetables and Fruits Association expressed his view that in 2018 as well as in the future, enterprises should pay special attention to raise high quality of vegetables and food safety. Besides that, one notable point is making clear calculations, step by step investment in processing. This is a solution to increase the value added as well as stabilize the source of export goods throughout the year. The same point, representatives of some companies direct fruit export for: Fruit processing can increase the value from 10-20 times that of fresh fruit. When exporting fresh fruit, enterprises can only select 40-50% of the beautiful samples, uniformly for export. However, if it is put into processing, the enterprises will exploit the entire amount of remaining fresh vegetables.

Thus, in order to promote the fruit and vegetable industry in general, fruit in particular for sustainable development, in the future, Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh requested the Plant Protection Department actively negotiate with other countries to expand the export market; Continue to cooperate with localities and enterprises to develop area codes of planning zone for exporting fruit trees. In addition, the Plant Protection Department must also update and disseminate widely to localities and production units about technical barriers, warning of active ingredients that have not been accepted in import markets...