Vietnam’s fruit, vegetable exports to top $2bn in 2015

Fruit and vegetables are becoming the new moneymaker for Vietnam’s agriculture sector, as revenue from the stables has repeatedly soared in the last five years, according to the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association (Vinafruit).

While the country only earned $460 million from fruit and vegetable exports in 2010, turnover in the first nine months of this year was already $1.3 billion, and is likely to reach $2 billion by the end of this year, Vinafruit said.

It will be an impressive achievement for the fruit and vegetable sector, at a time when exporting other agricultural products such as rice, coffee and pepper is facing challenges, according to the association.

Vietnam, where a wide variety of tropical fruits are grown, is shipping around 40 different kinds of fruit to 40 countries and territories, said Dr. Nguyen Huu Dat, director of a plant quarantine agency under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Dragon fruit, watermelon, longan, and litchi are among the stables of the country’s fruit sector.

The Southeast Asian country was allowed to begin selling its fruit to such strict markets as the U.S., Japan, and Australia in 2008 and shipments have since increased on an annual basis.

In the January-July period of this year, Vietnam shipped more than 3,000 metric tons of fruit to these demanding markets, equaling the full-year figure in 2014, according to Dr. Dat.

“Fresh fruit is a premium product but there is still more room for growth,” the official said.

Vietnam has won over consumers in the U.S. with its dragon fruit and rambutan, and is gaining similar support for longan, which was allowed access to the market in December 2014.

“The U.S. is expected to approve imports of Vietnamese star apple and mango by the end of this year,” Dat said.

Nguyen Quoc Vong, a professor at RMIT University Vietnam, said the country’s fruit and vegetable exports could have grown at a faster pace if it had received adequate attention from agriculture officials.

“Vietnam focuses too much on developing the rice sector, which has a very low export value compared to fruit and vegetables,” he explained.

The world’s fruit and vegetable market is worth abound $100 billion, and Vietnam should change its strategy to grab a bigger share of this, the professor advised.

“A thorough strategy to improve technology and increase product quality will enable Vietnamese fruit and vegetables to generate billions of U.S. dollars in revenue,” he said.