Recently, Vietnam has found ways to export durian to China. However, it seems that the Chinese only know Thailand’s Monthong and Malaysia’s Musang King durian.
According to Albert Lui, Secretary General of the International Buyers’ Association, in the next five years, food demand from the Chinese market will increase by 35 percent. The demand on Vietnamese produce will increase as well. However, as raw material imports have to go through many intermediaries, the final prices reaching Chinese consumers are relatively high. “We need to find a way to export Vietnam’s farm produce directly to end users, so we will be able to reduce costs paid to intermediaries,” he said.
Lui noted that Chinese consumers have a habit of buying goods based on their brands. Consumers are familiar with Thailand’s Monthong and Malaysia’s Musang King durian, but Vietnam still cannot build strong brands to approach consumers. That is why Vietnam needs to build trade promotion agencies overseas with the support of the State and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).
“The best way to boost exports, especially to China, is to establish farm produce trade promotion centers, which would quickly solve problems related to market access,” he said.
Source: vietnamnet.vn