Vietnam to export fresh dragon fruit to Australia after years of talks

Dragon fruit on display at a supermarket in HCMC. Vietnam’s fresh dragon fruit will be able to make its way to the choosy Australian market late this year - PHOTO: UYEN VIEN

HANOI – Vietnam’s fresh dragon fruit will be able to make its way to the choosy Australian market late this year as the Ministry of Industry and Trade is completing food safety procedures.

On the sidelines of the 23rd Meeting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade last month, Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh and Australian Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Steven Ciobo discussed bilateral cooperation. Anh proposed Australia create favorable conditions for Vietnam to ship dragon fruit to the Australian market.

The Australian Embassy in Vietnam later wrote to Minister Anh updating him on Australia’s plan to open up its market to Vietnam’s fresh dragon fruit, and offering support for Vietnam to seek permission from the Food Standards Australia New Zealand for irradiation of dragon fruit which will be sent to Australia.

Trade promotion schemes are being implemented in a timely and effective manner to facilitate Vietnam’s dragon fruit export to Australia late this year.

Dragon fruit has emerged as one of Vietnam’s key fruits for export, with export sales amounting to US$895.7 million last year, accounting for 50.3% of total fruit exports and 36.1% of total fruit and vegetable exports.

After long years of negotiations, the Southeast Asian nation began shipping lychee and mango to the Australian market in 2015 and 2016 respectively. 

The Vietnamese ministries of industry-trade and agriculture-rural development have actively worked with the Australian Department of Agriculture and Water Resources to address technical barriers in an effort to sell other fruits like rambutant, star apple and longan to Australian consumers.

Vietnamese agencies are on the lookout for Australian companies which are able to transfer their processing, by-product recovery, and seed technologies to Vietnamese fruit producers to enhance the quality and competitiveness of Vietnamese fruits.

In a related development, the Australian department lifted its ban on the import of uncooked shrimp products from Vietnam last month. The suspension followed an outbreak of white spot disease in Queensland in January.

The two countries are speeding up the process of checking clean prawn farms free of white spot disease in Vietnam. The move is to ship Vietnam’s fresh head-on shrimp to Australia soon after having undergone strict monitoring programs.

If the procedure is complete, Vietnam will become the first country to export fresh head-on shrimp to Australia.

This will not only help Vietnam increase its market share in Australia but also promote exports to other markets like Japan, the United States, and the European Union which have strict requirements on food hygiene and safety, and quality management.

Australia is among the largest buyers of Vietnam’s farm and aquatic products, with an export growth rate of 8.3% and average revenue of US$450 million a year between 2011 and 2016.

The two nations struck the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand free trade area agreement which entered in force in 2010, with zero import tax.

Thanks to the agreement, sales of Vietnam’s farm and aquatic products to Australia grew strongly in the period, with vegetables and fruit, cashew, and seafood growing 27.7%, 12.9% and 6.9% a year respectively.