Fruit, vegetable exports predicted to top 5.5 billion USD

Durian predicted to hit the export target of 1.5 billion USD this October. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Fruit andvegetable exports have hit a new record and forecast to bring home over 5.5billion USD in 2023.

Vietnam posted 4.2 billion USD infruit and vegetable exports during the first nine months, surging nearly 72%year on year and breaking the record of 3.81 billion in 2018, according to theMinistry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Meanwhile, the Vietnam Vegetable andFruit Association (VINAFRUIT) estimated nine-month imports at about 1.46billion USD, falling 0.1%.

The biggest importers of Vietnam's fruits andvegetables are China, the US, the Republic of Korea (RoK),Japan, and the Netherlands. Among them, only shipments to the US droppedslightly but rose sharply in the others.

Exports to China surpassed 2.26billion USD, jumping 134% from a year earlier. This market was followed by theNetherlands (up 50%), the RoK (18%), and Japan (6%). China also topped foreignbuyers of Vietnamese fruits and vegetables, accounting for almost 64%, followedby the US, the RoK, Japan, and the Netherlands, statistics show.

Notably, durian continued to enjoy strong export growth. It generatedmore than 1.28 billion USD in export value during January - August, shooting up700% from the same period last year.

The surge was attributable to the exportvia the official channel to China, which imported nearly 1.15 billion USD ofdurian, mainly fresh one, during the period. Thanks to that, this fruitis predicted to hit the target of 1.5 billion USD this October.

Vietnam earned 4.2 billion USD in fruit and vegetable exports during the first nine months of 2023. (Photo: VNA)

In addition, other fruits alsoposted good growth in foreign earnings such as jackfruit, mango, lychee, water melon,pomelo, and longan.

A slight decrease was seen in dragonfruit exports, to nearly 450 million USD, due to a plunge in the shipments to China and the US.

However, VINAFRUIT is lookingforwards to a rebound in dragon fruit revenue since China usually has highdemand for this fruit by the year’s end.

With the US’s recent licensing of Vietnamese coconut and the negotiation on theofficial export of coconut to China, this fruit is also hoped to quickly becomea billion-USD commodity in the coming time.

All those factors are expected to helpfurther raise fruit and vegetable exports in the time ahead./.

VNA