Fruit, vegetables become big foreign currency earner

Fruit and vegetables have surpassed traditional farm produce such as rice, rubber, tea, and cashew nuts to become a major foreign currency earner in the agricultural sector. 

Workers package processed baby cucumbers

Fruit and veggie exports first exceeded the one-billion-USD mark in 2013 and went on to set new records year after year, reaching 3.5 billion USD in 2017, a 40 percent increase from the previous year.

Secretary-General of the Vietnam Fruit & Vegetable Association Nguyen Huu Dat said in 2017, Vietnam successfully opened the door of some demanding markets for several types of fruit, exporting dragon fruits to Australia, and mangoes and star apples to the US.

The country’s fruits and vegetables are being sold in 40 countries and territories around the world, including the US, Japan, the RoK, Australia and New Zealand. China topped the list, consuming 75 percent of Vietnam’s fruit and vegetable exports, followed by Japan, the US, the Republic of Korea (RoK) and the Netherlands.

Developing large-scale production is of great importance to achieve sustainable export and increase local produce’s competitiveness in the global market, Dat said, noting that large-scale production will make it easier to ensure consistent product quality.

He also suggested developing production chains from supplying saplings and tree cultivation to product purchasing, processing and exports.

Businesses operating in the field called for developing processing in order to increase added values of products.