While Vietnamese fruit and vegetable export reached 42 countries and territories in 2001, it narrowed to 39 and 33 countries in 2004 and 2005, respectively. The Ministry of Trade is developing a new project on boosting fruit and vegetable export. Trade Deputy Minister Tran Duc Minh gave answers to the press about this issue.
Could you please tell us about the present situation of Vietnamese fruit and vegetable exports?
Vietnamese fruit and vegetable export is still weak in many aspects such as seed, quality, productivity and quantity. For instance, our tomato export only reaches 1 to 2 tonnes per container; the maximum of cabbage, cauliflower and kohlrabi exports are 4 to 5 tonnes per container. We have hardly any quality-checking machinery for fruit and vegetables, while markets have strict requirements for that. Vietnam has had to dump exports that could not pass examinations into the sea or take them back many times. Enterprises suffering losses daren’t export.
Domestic exporting businesses still have many shortcomings. There are hardly any large and professional exporting enterprises. Da Lat city in Lam Dong province produces the largest quantities of flowers and vegetables, however, there are only a few private enterprises that can export such as Hasfarm, Hung Thieng, and Hop Nguyen cooperative. Foodstuff processing companies are able to export several kinds of frozen flowers and vegetables such as Sapi and spinach. Fruits face the same problem. The Hau river farm is the largest in Ho Chi Minh and Can Tho cities; however, packaging and transporting methods are rudimentary. Northern provinces are famous for fruits such as bananas, litchi and longan, but they applied a manually exported method, merely packing them in big baskets and exporting to China. Such methods cannot be applied to exports to the US, EU, Singapore, Japan, or Hong Kong. Our organisational phases from production to transportation are very limited and fragmented.
Will the new project that the Ministry is developing solve difficulties to Vietnamese fruit and vegetable export?
Shortcomings of the fruit and vegetable sector can not be solved by one or two projects. It requires the support and attention of the Government, People’s committees of provinces and enterprises. Therefore, we (Ministries of Trade, Agriculture and Rural Development, Planning and Investment and People’s committees of provinces) are now developing an overall project to submit to the Government, requesting assistance for reorganising production and exportation of the fruit and vegetable sector towards a methodical manner.
In the project, we require that the Government grant a portion of State budget to localities, piloting a new fruit production and exportation process towards a synchronous manner, settling all the said weaknesses. We will discuss tasks assigned to each body: The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is to give instructions on farming techniques, the Trade Ministry to supply guidance in export and Planning and Investment Ministry to be in charge of planning land for flower, fruit and vegetable growing, so that both enterprises and farmers can take part.
This project will fundamentally settle all the present shortcomings of the fruit and vegetable sector, helping them enjoy good production and export. The project aims at building several pilot models at some potential localities, which means that great potential areas will be supported to establish pilot models. Then we will replicate them in other areas nationwide.
Could you please tell us about market demand research conducted by the Ministry in the development of the project?
I have led a delegation of Vietnamese enterprises to Singapore to promote fruit and vegetable export. Right after the introduction, there were 15 Singaporean companies expecting to come to Vietnam to conduct surveys, market research and order hundreds of tonnes of products (they will arrive in Vietnam in April, 2006). For Japanese, Chinese, South Korean and Hong Kong’s markets, demands will be much greater. I am sure that Vietnamese fruit and vegetable market is available, however, the matter lies in our capacity in response to requirements, consumption and production organisation.
In your opinion, is there any short-term solution to protect Vietnamese fruit and vegetables from losing markets while waiting for the project completion?
Currently, we are trying our best to maintain trade promotion support for Vietnamese fruit and vegetables. We are carrying out promotion activities in Japan, Singapore, China and South Korea. In the coming time, those enterprises will enter Vietnam and sign contracts to buy several kinds of our flowers, fruits and vegetables. Vietnamese fresh fruit and vegetable export is very limited, however, our canned product export is rather stable.
Kim Phuong
Vietnamese
