Dragon fruit cultivation in Long An Province. Fruit exporters have been urged to seek new export markets instead of depending too much on traditional ones. (Photo: VNA)HCM City (VNS/VNA) - Chanh Thu Fruit Import and Export Company Limited in BenTre province continues to operate normally despite the resurgence of COVID-19since it has shifted to new export markets instead of overly depending ontraditional ones like China.
Ngo Tuong Vy, its deputy director, said exports of frozen durian have increasedby more than 30 percent.
“Frozen durian is popular since the quality is almost fresh after thawing.Frozen durian is also mouth-watering as it is similar to ice cream and thesmell is not as strong compared to when it is fresh.”
The company now focuses on exports to the US, she said.
“There is no shortage of durian in the US market, but Vietnamese durian ispopular since it is delicious yet reasonably priced.”
This month, despite a significant drop in the prices of dragon fruits, farmersin Long An province’s Chau Thanh and Tan Tru districts were still able to signa contract with Lavifood, an exporter of processed fruits and vegetables, tosell the fruit at 13,000 VND and 23,000 VND (1 USD) per kilogramme, dependingon quality, relatively higher than the market price.
Lavifood buys 80 percent of the fruits grown in Long An.
Dang Ngoc Can, general director of the company, said it has focused on theprocessing of dragon fruit into juice, dried and frozen products.
The company has a factory in Long An province with an annual capacity of 10,000tonnes of processed products, and another in Tay Ninh with a capacity of 60,000tonnes, and could process more than 500 tonnes of dragon fruit per day, hesaid.
The company plans to increase exports to markets with high demand such as theRepublic of Korea, Japan, the US, and Europe, he said.
Nguyen Quoc Trinh, chairman of the Long An Dragon Fruit Association, said hiscompany bought 500 tonnes of the fruits at high prices within 10 days ofharvest, making farmers very happy.
“Farmers can export ‘beautiful looking’ dragon fruits and keep the rest forfreezing, drying and making juices for domestic consumption.
“The price is based on how the fruits look.”
To sell well, farmers must follow “clean” processes based on VietGAP standards,he said.
Nguyen Dinh Tung, chairman and general director of Vina T&T Group, said thecompany’s plant could preserve fresh coconuts for 80 days, 20 more than before,and targets new markets like Australia, Japan and the Republic of Korea inaddition to its traditional market, the US.
“The company exports eight to nine containers of coconuts a week now, comparedto only three or four in past years. Each container contains 20,000 coconuts.To get 20,000 good coconuts, the company has to buy 30,000-40,000 fromfarmers.”
Phung Van Hien, director of Global Fresh Fruit Company Limited (Ben Tre), saidthe company decided to suspend rambutan exports to the EU a few months agobecause of lack of supply due to the saltwater intrusion and drought in theMekong Delta, and the Covid-19 outbreak, and surge in air freight.
It quickly found new export markets like Japan, Australia and the US for freshcoconuts instead, he said.
It also exports copra to the Netherlands, he said.
“Businesses must now focus on quality and branding their products to ensuresustainability.”
According to the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association (Vinafruit), exportsto China, the country’s largest market, were only worth 1.044 trillion VND (45million USD) in the first half, down 29.35 percent year-on-year.
It attributed the slump to the fact that cross-border trade has been tighteneddue to the pandemic, causing shipments of many agricultural products, includingdragon fruit, to be stuck at the borders for days.
To survive, businesses have to expand to new export markets and learn to adaptto each market’s tastes and improve quality, packaging and traceability,according to the association.
The agricultural sector is expected to continue facing challenges this year dueto the pandemic and unfavourable weather conditions.
Experts said it should continue to adapt to climate change, use technology andimprove human resources.
Enterprises need to continue to seek new markets, they added.
The sector has a growth target for the agriculture, forestry and fisheriessector for this year of 2.6 – 3 percent, the same as last year, with exportsrising to 41 billion USD.
To achieve the target, it should also take advantage of tropical agricultureand develop high-quality specialised areas that meet food safety requirements,the experts said.
It should speed up key projects in agricultural and forestry processing andincrease the capacity of existing processing plants to reduce costs and servedomestic and export needs, they said.
Agriculture should be closely linked with the processing industry andpreservation, market, export, and global value chains.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said hisministry expects to quickly establish linkages between cropping areas,processing plants and logistics systems to expand export markets and join theglobal value chain./.
Ngo Tuong Vy, its deputy director, said exports of frozen durian have increasedby more than 30 percent.
“Frozen durian is popular since the quality is almost fresh after thawing.Frozen durian is also mouth-watering as it is similar to ice cream and thesmell is not as strong compared to when it is fresh.”
The company now focuses on exports to the US, she said.
“There is no shortage of durian in the US market, but Vietnamese durian ispopular since it is delicious yet reasonably priced.”
This month, despite a significant drop in the prices of dragon fruits, farmersin Long An province’s Chau Thanh and Tan Tru districts were still able to signa contract with Lavifood, an exporter of processed fruits and vegetables, tosell the fruit at 13,000 VND and 23,000 VND (1 USD) per kilogramme, dependingon quality, relatively higher than the market price.
Lavifood buys 80 percent of the fruits grown in Long An.
Dang Ngoc Can, general director of the company, said it has focused on theprocessing of dragon fruit into juice, dried and frozen products.
The company has a factory in Long An province with an annual capacity of 10,000tonnes of processed products, and another in Tay Ninh with a capacity of 60,000tonnes, and could process more than 500 tonnes of dragon fruit per day, hesaid.
The company plans to increase exports to markets with high demand such as theRepublic of Korea, Japan, the US, and Europe, he said.
Nguyen Quoc Trinh, chairman of the Long An Dragon Fruit Association, said hiscompany bought 500 tonnes of the fruits at high prices within 10 days ofharvest, making farmers very happy.
“Farmers can export ‘beautiful looking’ dragon fruits and keep the rest forfreezing, drying and making juices for domestic consumption.
“The price is based on how the fruits look.”
To sell well, farmers must follow “clean” processes based on VietGAP standards,he said.
Nguyen Dinh Tung, chairman and general director of Vina T&T Group, said thecompany’s plant could preserve fresh coconuts for 80 days, 20 more than before,and targets new markets like Australia, Japan and the Republic of Korea inaddition to its traditional market, the US.
“The company exports eight to nine containers of coconuts a week now, comparedto only three or four in past years. Each container contains 20,000 coconuts.To get 20,000 good coconuts, the company has to buy 30,000-40,000 fromfarmers.”
Phung Van Hien, director of Global Fresh Fruit Company Limited (Ben Tre), saidthe company decided to suspend rambutan exports to the EU a few months agobecause of lack of supply due to the saltwater intrusion and drought in theMekong Delta, and the Covid-19 outbreak, and surge in air freight.
It quickly found new export markets like Japan, Australia and the US for freshcoconuts instead, he said.
It also exports copra to the Netherlands, he said.
“Businesses must now focus on quality and branding their products to ensuresustainability.”
According to the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association (Vinafruit), exportsto China, the country’s largest market, were only worth 1.044 trillion VND (45million USD) in the first half, down 29.35 percent year-on-year.
It attributed the slump to the fact that cross-border trade has been tighteneddue to the pandemic, causing shipments of many agricultural products, includingdragon fruit, to be stuck at the borders for days.
To survive, businesses have to expand to new export markets and learn to adaptto each market’s tastes and improve quality, packaging and traceability,according to the association.
The agricultural sector is expected to continue facing challenges this year dueto the pandemic and unfavourable weather conditions.
Experts said it should continue to adapt to climate change, use technology andimprove human resources.
Enterprises need to continue to seek new markets, they added.
The sector has a growth target for the agriculture, forestry and fisheriessector for this year of 2.6 – 3 percent, the same as last year, with exportsrising to 41 billion USD.
To achieve the target, it should also take advantage of tropical agricultureand develop high-quality specialised areas that meet food safety requirements,the experts said.
It should speed up key projects in agricultural and forestry processing andincrease the capacity of existing processing plants to reduce costs and servedomestic and export needs, they said.
Agriculture should be closely linked with the processing industry andpreservation, market, export, and global value chains.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said hisministry expects to quickly establish linkages between cropping areas,processing plants and logistics systems to expand export markets and join theglobal value chain./.
VNA
