Vietnam’s Fruits to Ripen in Foreign, Domestic Markets

Vietnam’s Fruits to Ripen in Foreign, Domestic Markets

With a total orchard acreage of some 500,000 hectares, Vietnam has the highest annual fruit output of around 5.6 million tonnes in Southeast Asia, but only 10 per cent of the amount are exported. To fully tap this great source, the country will make concerted efforts to boost domestic and foreign fruit sales, mainly by intensifying trade promotion, application of advanced technologies and the construction of trademarks.

Vietnam, which earned US$93 million from shipping fruits and vegetables abroad in the first seven months of this year, a year-on-year decline of 3 per cent, plans to reap export turnovers of US$350 million in 2005 and US$1 billion in 2010. To this end, the Ministry of Trade will promote local fruit and vegetables, which are now available in 50 countries and territories around the world, including China, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the European Union.

The ministry is mapping out concrete plans to develop local fruit traders in northern bordering provinces into major exporters, and establish several wholesale markets along border gates to promote shipments of large and stable amounts of fruit and vegetables to China, its biggest importer. Domestic fruit enterprises are also expected to find more foreign customers at an international food exhibition to be held in China’s Shanghai city on September 12-19.

To boost fruit and vegetable exports to China, which are on the decrease do to high taxes and fierce competition from Thailand, Vietnam is accelerating negotiations with the two countries so that they will remove their import tariffs of 27 per cent on its fruits in the near future. The Chinese market, which now makes up around 45 per cent of the total fruit and vegetable exports of Vietnam, is interested in coconut, longan, litchi, dragon fruit, watermelon, pineapple, banana, mango, pepper and tomato. According to the ministry’s statistics, the majority of domestic fruit and vegetables exported to China between January and May this year were coconut flesh, representing 25.6 per cent of the total, followed by longan 11.7 per cent, cassava slices 10.6 per cent, dried fruits 7.6 per cent, processed coconut pulp 6.4 per cent and dragon fruits 2.7 per cent.

Like China, Japan has recently received greater attention from Vietnamese fruit and vegetable exporters that are trying to raise their product quality, meet strict hygienic requirements and deliver goods on time. Domestic companies will promote their products at a fair to be held in Kitakyushu, Japan on October 5-23, in a move to increase their market share in the foreign country which now stands at less than 0.3 per cent. Japan annually imports around 17 million tonnes of fruit and vegetables from other countries.

Besides the concrete actions taken by the Ministry of Trade, greater efforts to broaden and deepen Vietnamese fruit exports are being made by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD). It has identified 11 domestic fruits with sharper competitive edges, including mangosteen, dragon fruit, grapefruit, thick-skinned oranges, mango, star apples, pineapple, litchi and durian.

More importantly, the MARD is actively producing new fruit varieties which are free from disease, and promoting the application of technical and technological advancements in all stages of production among fruit growers and processors. The ministry plans to offer growers with high quality varieties of seedlings to churn out some 8 million tonnes of fruit and 6.2 million tonnes of vegetable for processing annually in the next few years. It has also urged domestic fruit exporters to employ more advanced freezing facilities, packing plants, special-use containers and cleaning equipment, since Vietnam suffers post-harvest losses of around 30 per cent due to outdated post-harvest technologies. The number of fruit and vegetable plants in the country increased to 24 with a combined annual capacity of 250,000 tonnes of finished products in early 2004, compared to 12 plants and 48 small-scale workshops with a total yearly capacity of around 150,000 tonnes prior to 1999. The country currently realises 44.6 per cent of the processing target set for 2010, according to the MARD. By early this year, Vietnam had 25 state-owned enterprises, seven joint ventures, 129 private businesses and more than 10,000 farming households engaging in the processing industry.

To record higher foreign and domestic sales of fruit and vegetables, relevant ministries, sectors, businesses and even individuals are striving to promote Vietnam’s fruit trademarks. The country, home to hundreds of high quality fruit varieties, has several registered fruit trademarks such as the Chin Hoa durian, the Hoang Hau dragon fruit and the Nam Roi grapefruit. However, to bring local fruit trademarks into play, relevant entities should establish more specialised orchard zones, fruit cooperatives and wholesales markets in more localities, especially in the Mekong Delta. The country now has 27 concentrated fruit zones, but few of them specialise in fruit cultivation, such as the dragon fruit area in the central province of Binh Thuan, and the litchi area in the northern province of Bac Giang.

By the end of 2003, Vietnam had nearly 1.3 million hectares set aside for growing fruit, vegetables and flowers with a total output of roughly 13.9 million tonnes, realising 97 per cent of the acreage target and 69.4 per cent of the output target set for 2010, according to the MARD. The country recorded a per capita fruit consumption of around 46 kilograms last year, comparatively low compared to the figure of 100 kilograms in Japan.

• Dong Phong