Workers process lychees for export at the Red Dragon Company in the northern province of Hai Duong (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) - Though Vietnam’sfruit and vegetable industry is growing, its exports still account for lessthan 1 percent of the global market, indicating the need for the processingindustry to upgrade its facilities and practices, experts said at a recent seminarin Hanoi.
The Vietnam Vegetables and FruitAssociation, Rieckermann Vietnam and the Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment (MARD) co-organised the event on November 21 to discuss theindustry’s challenges and opportunities. The sector is growing quickly, seeingincreases in cultivation area, output and export value in recent years, said NguyenNhu Cuong, Deputy General Director of the Plant Cultivation Department underthe MARD. In the first 10 months of 2017, Vietnam’s fruit and vegetable exportvalue reached 2.48 billion USD, an increase of 47.3 percent over the sameperiod last year, Cuong said.
Besides China, the largest importer ofVietnamese vegetables and fruits, other high-demand markets include the US, theRepublic of Korea, the Netherlands, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore andAustralia. The global export value of vegetables and fruits has exceeded 200billion USD annually since 2011. Cuong argued that Vietnam has not yet met itspotential.
“Vietnam is mainly exporting fresh fruitswith a short storage time due to lack of advanced preservation technology, sothe value added is low. Not to mention that the country’s fruit and vegetableexports are also affected by many technical barriers, such as sanitaryconditions,” he added.
Other challenges facing the industryinclude small-scale and segmented production, low quality of fruits, lowproductivity and out-dated processing technology.
According to experts and enterprises at theseminar, processing technology is not sufficient to meet domestic and internationaldemand. Firms should apply new technology in production and invest in advancedproduction lines to increase efficiency and quality assurance.
At the seminar, Rieckermann Vietnam, anindustrial solutions provider, introduced two advanced technologies to helpVietnamese businesses gain an advantage in the fruit processing market. Theproducts are a tropical fruits processing technology and a juice treatmenttechnology.
According to Cuong, though Vietnam hasidentified fruits and vegetables as a potentially strong industry, there weremany shortcomings to fully exploit. The whole sector needs to continue to focuson promoting the application of science and technology for frozen fruits,canned fruits, dried fruits and fruit juices to increase the value ofproduction, expand the market and increase export turnover, he said.-VNA
The Vietnam Vegetables and FruitAssociation, Rieckermann Vietnam and the Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment (MARD) co-organised the event on November 21 to discuss theindustry’s challenges and opportunities. The sector is growing quickly, seeingincreases in cultivation area, output and export value in recent years, said NguyenNhu Cuong, Deputy General Director of the Plant Cultivation Department underthe MARD. In the first 10 months of 2017, Vietnam’s fruit and vegetable exportvalue reached 2.48 billion USD, an increase of 47.3 percent over the sameperiod last year, Cuong said.
Besides China, the largest importer ofVietnamese vegetables and fruits, other high-demand markets include the US, theRepublic of Korea, the Netherlands, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore andAustralia. The global export value of vegetables and fruits has exceeded 200billion USD annually since 2011. Cuong argued that Vietnam has not yet met itspotential.
“Vietnam is mainly exporting fresh fruitswith a short storage time due to lack of advanced preservation technology, sothe value added is low. Not to mention that the country’s fruit and vegetableexports are also affected by many technical barriers, such as sanitaryconditions,” he added.
Other challenges facing the industryinclude small-scale and segmented production, low quality of fruits, lowproductivity and out-dated processing technology.
According to experts and enterprises at theseminar, processing technology is not sufficient to meet domestic and internationaldemand. Firms should apply new technology in production and invest in advancedproduction lines to increase efficiency and quality assurance.
At the seminar, Rieckermann Vietnam, anindustrial solutions provider, introduced two advanced technologies to helpVietnamese businesses gain an advantage in the fruit processing market. Theproducts are a tropical fruits processing technology and a juice treatmenttechnology.
According to Cuong, though Vietnam hasidentified fruits and vegetables as a potentially strong industry, there weremany shortcomings to fully exploit. The whole sector needs to continue to focuson promoting the application of science and technology for frozen fruits,canned fruits, dried fruits and fruit juices to increase the value ofproduction, expand the market and increase export turnover, he said.-VNA
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