This year, the growth of vegetable and fruit exports slowed down significantly, but the target of reaching US$10 billion in revenue in 2025 was still within reach, said the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The ministry’s Agro Processing and Market Development Authority anticipated a growth rate of 10 percent for vegetable and fruit exports for the full year of 2018, much lower than the growth rate of more than 40 percent recorded in 2017.
Vietnam exported vegetables and fruits worth $3.5 billion between January and November, representing a rise of 11.6 percent over the same period last year. China remained the largest importer of Vietnamese vegetables and fruits, accounting for 73.8 percent of Vietnam’s vegetable and fruit export revenue.
Vietnam exported vegetables and fruits worth $2.41 billion to China in the period, an increase of 11.3 percent over the same period in 2017. Exports to Australia, the US, Thailand and South Korea saw strong growth rates of between 28 and 36 percent.
The department said the export of vegetables and fruits might struggle in the final month of this year due to the impact of weather conditions which might cause drops in the output of several farming products.
The country imported vegetables and fruits worth $1.57 billion in the 11-month period, up by 11.5 percent, mainly from Thailand (accounting for 41.3 percent of the revenue) and China (24.4 percent).
Experts said Vietnam’s participation in a number of free trade agreements (FTAs) was creating opportunities to expand vegetable and fruit exports to new markets and reduce the reliance on a single market. However, the industry is still weak in processing and preservation, experts said.
Statistics showed that around 80 percent of Vietnam’s fruits output was sold in the domestic market, mostly in the form of fresh produce.
Source: vietnamnews.vn
