Room for Vietnamese farm produce exports to Singapore amid COVID-19

HÀ NỘI - Vietnamese enterprises shipped around 500 tonnes of goods, including coffee, instant noodles, sweet potato, cabbage, pineapple, watermelon, and dragon fruit, to Singapore in March, according to the Vietnamese Trade Office in Singapore.

Farmers in Ninh Bình Province's Tam Điệp City harvest pineapples. VNA/VNS Photo Thùy Dung

The encouraging performance amid the COVID-19 pandemic was mainly thanks to the office’s efforts in connecting associations of the two countries in order to help businesses grasp opportunities to boost their exports.

In February, the office organised field trips for Singaporean fruit and vegetable importers to Việt Nam to seek supply sources. It has also continued to collect information related to the public procurement demand of the Singapore government and actively implemented trade promotion and business matching activities.

This year, the office plans to organise trips for Singapore businesses to some of Việt Nam's north central provinces to study opportunities in the field of processed food and fruit in May.

Other trips for these firms to several Mekong Delta provinces to seek supply in rice, seafood, vegetables and fruits in August and for those to Việt Nam to search trade opportunities in furniture, textile and garment in October will be also conducted. 

To support Vietnamese exporters as requested by the Vietnamese Trade Office, Vietnam Airlines in Singapore has maintained cargo flights from Singapore to Hà Nội and HCM City and vice versa.

Statistics from the Singapore Enterprise Department revealed that Việt Nam’s export turnover to the country in February increased 49 per cent compared to a month earlier, and up 102.78 per cent compared to the same period in 2019.

Trade experts said Singapore was a great market for Việt Nam's agricultural products and processed foods where they could get access to top restaurant, hotel and resort chains as well as retailer outlets.

Singaporean consumers are particularly fond of Vietnamese fresh produce and processed foods such as coffee, cashew nuts, mango and dragon fruit.

However, Vietnamese exporters had to face fierce competition from companies in the region, which required them to improve product quality and reduce costs to improve competitiveness, they said.