Vietnam Lacks Specialising Zones for Fruit and Vegetable Farming
It is unclear if US$1 billion from the export of fruit and vegetables in 2010 is a realistic figure as Vietnam’s fruit and vegetable export turnover has seen a sharp drop in recent years. Export value decreased from US$329.9 million in 2000 to US$201.1 million in 2002, US$151.47 million in 2003 and US$178.8 million in 2004. The main reason is that Vietnam is losing its main market - China. Will the situation improve in 2006 when Vietnam enjoys China tax priority under the China-ASEAN agreement?
Admittedly, there are many weaknesses in the production and trading of Vietnamese fruit. Even though Vietnam has favourable natural conditions for growing many special tropical fruit varieties, not to mention cheap labour costs, according to experts, prices of Vietnamese fruit remain the highest in the region. For example, the precious mango of Vietnam is five times more expensive than that of Thailand. This figure is put at four times for oranges, and 2.3 times for other fruit, such as persimmon, papaya and mandarin orange. Vietnamese fruit products are between seven and ten times more expensive than products of the same kind from Jamaica and Kenya.
Furthermore, Vietnam affirms that it has 11 delicious fruit, which can compete in the international market, yet these products don’t have any trademark. So far, a handful of fruit, including Lo Ren Vinh Kim star apple, Hoa Loc sweet mango, Phuc Trach grapefruit and Phuoc Thuan grape, have been registered. According to the Vietnamese Farmers’ Association, up to 90 per cent of Vietnam’s farm-produce is exported under foreign trademarks.
At present, Vietnam produces over six million tonnes of fruit per year but the distribution system of fruit products remains weak. For example, last year, Vietnam produced 270,000 tonnes of lychee, but the price dropped to between VND 1,300 and 2,500 per kilogram because farmers harvested the fruit so quickly. According to the result of a study, up to 60 per cent of lychee produced in Bac Giang is sold via peddling, only 24 per cent is sold over the counter and 16 per cent is sold in markets. This shows that the cheap, delicious fruit is unavailable in supermarkets.
In particular, the processing of fruit and vegetables remains a difficult issue for Vietnamese agriculture even the country has formed zones specialising in the farming of fruit trees, especially in the Mekong delta. Now, the local processing industry has only 22 plants with 32 production lines, capable of processing 215,000 tonnes of fruit per year. However, materials can meet only 40 per cent of these plants’ capacity. This fact shows that even Vietnam fruit output is much higher than processing capacity, the lack of materials for processing plants still exists.
According to economic experts, comprehensive weaknesses of Vietnam’s fruit and vegetable sector have resulted from the fact that Vietnam has yet to form zones specialising in producing fruit. Only when this issue is settled will Vietnam have high quality products at cheap prices. On this basis, a suitable processing and distribution network will be formed. This will help fruit become a main export of Vietnam.
Vietnamese
