Fruit, vegetable exports hit 1.62 billion USD in five months

Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam earned 1.62 billion USD from exporting fruits and vegetables in the first five months of 2018, a year-on-year rise of 16.54 percent.

Harvesting Hung Yen longans (Photo: VNA)

In May alone, the country grossed 303.1 million USD from selling fruits and vegetables abroad, up 10 percent against the same month last year, according to Vietnam Customs.

Fruit-vegetable was the second biggest foreign currency earner in the agricultural sector, after aquatic products.

Vietnamese fruits and vegetables have been sold across 60 countries and territories, including four main markets namely China, the US, Japan and the Republic of Korea.

In January-April, fruit-vegetable exports to most markets registered growth with China importing nearly 989 million USD worth of products, a year-on-year increase of 30.3 percent and 75 percent of fruit-vegetable export turnover.

The US came second with 39 million USD (up 12.3 percent), followed by Japan at 36.55 million USD (up 15.9 percent) and the Republic of Korea 34.78 million USD (up 13.28 percent).

Southeast Asian countries imported 56.39 million USD worth of fruits and vegetables, an annual rise of 19.4 percent and 4.3 percent of the fruit-vegetable export turnover.

Strong growth was also seen in markets such as France (up 41.3 percent) and Australia (up 34.9 percent).

Notably, Vietnamese fruits and vegetables were also exported to Thailand and Indonesia, which have strengths in agriculture.

In the period, Vietnam imported 575 million USD worth of fruits and vegetables, up 15.3 percent over the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The country mainly purchased fruits and vegetables from Thailand, China and the US.

With the positive outcomes in 2017 and the first quarter of 2018, Vietnam is expected to gross 10 billion USD from exporting fruits and vegetables in the near future.

The country earned a record 3.45 billion USD from fruit and vegetable exports in 2017, a year-on-year rise of 40.5 percent, much higher than traditional staples like rice, crude oil and coffee.