Illustrative image (Source: VNA) Total national export value of vegetables andfruits reached 2.4 billion USD in 2016, a year-on-year increase of 30 percent.Export value is expected to increase to 3 billion USD this year.
The year 2016 witnessed impressive growth in the export value of vegetables andfruits, as a result of which their export value exceeded their export value ofrice.
Vietnam’s fruit and vegetable products were exported to 60 countries andterritories, but trade promotion and steps to maintain the freshness of theseproducts have not been developed according to expectations, the associationsaid.
For instance, local vegetable and fruit products were sold at only a few placesin California and New York in the United States, partly due to poor tradepromotion, it said.
US apples had, however, entered all distribution systems -- from traditionalmarkets to modern trading centres -- because the products retained theirfreshness for six months and the US Department of Agriculture ensured fundswere contributed by local enterprises of importing counties for trade promotionactivities.
Meanwhile, Vietnamese vegetable and fruit products remained fresh only for afew days, the association said, adding that it expected that a contributionfrom the state’s credit package worth 100 trillion VND for hi-tech agriculturewould create favourable conditions for development of processing technology forVietnamese vegetable and fruit products.
Nguyen Huu Dat from the Vietnam Vegetable and Fruit Association said it wasnecessary to have preferential loans for the development of modern processinglines that met international standards at enterprises.
Additionally, the state should have preferential loans for research institutes,centres and colleges to research and develop vegetable and fruit seeds andplant protection products, such as pesticides and herbicides. The researchfacilities also required cooperation with enterprises and producers to ensureefficiency in vegetable and fruit production.
Nguyen Dinh Tung, general director of local professional fruit exporter VINAT&T, said the vegetable and fruit industry needed funds amounting to 500billion VND for current projects on researching preservation technology forfarming products.
He expected that after processing, Vietnam’s major fruit products, such asdragon fruit and longan, could be kept fresh longer than the current period of1-2 months.
The association also said local fruit exporters should continue payingattention to food hygiene and safety as they have done over the past eightyears, chinhphu.vn reported.
If importing countries identified even one case where food hygiene and safetyregulations were violated, they would gradually increase the percentage ofimported fruits inspected from five percent of total imported batches, atpresent, to 50 percent or even 100 percent.
This inspection would take time, affecting consumption and quality of fruits inthe export market, leading to losses and eventually a loss of the enritemarket. It would also affect local vegetable and fruit production.
Dat said to stand firm in strict and large export markets, local vegetable andfruit exporters should actively partner to implement suitable trade promotionprogrammes, step-by-step enter distribution systems in exporting markets andprotect as well as improve competitive ability of Vietnamese vegetable andfruit products in the world market.-VNA
VNA
