Vietnam's fruit, vegetable exports up 33.4% in Q1

ABO/NDO – Vietnam gained US$934 million from fruit and vegetable exports in the first quarter of 2018, up 33.4% from the same period last year, with China, Japan and the United States remaining the top importers.

Illustrative image, Photo: HUU CHI

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the country exported US$ 284 million worth of fruit and vegetables in March while its imports amounted to US$92 million.

The import of fruit and vegetables in January-March witnessed an annual surge of 47.7%, which mostly came from Thailand and China.

Farmers in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong and the Northern provinces suffered a severe crisis as retail prices of vegetables plunged during March. The hardest-hit were radish and kohlrabi, the price of which went down to just VND 1,000 – VND 1,200 per kg due to oversupply.

Onions fetched VND 3,000 per kg, a 4-fold decrease from before the Tet (Vietnam Lunar New Year) holiday, while prices of carrots and cabbage dropped from VND 25,900 and VND 11,500 per kg to VND 20,900 and VND 9,500 per kg, respectively.

In 2018, the sector will focus on developing processing facilities for agricultural, forestry and seafood products, particularly vegetables, pork and chicken, serving both domestic and overseas markets.

The country’s fruit and vegetable exports reached a record US$ 3.5 billion, growing 43.02 percent from the previous year.

The top 10 markets were China (75.6%), Japan (3.64%), the United States (2.94%), the Republic of Korea (2.59%), the Netherlands (1.81%), Malaysia (1.43%), Taiwan (1.33%), Thailand (1.03%), the United Arab Emirates (1.01%) and Russia (0.85%). Other markets accounted for 7.77%.

In addition to the traditional markets, Vietnamese fruit also managed to enter tough markets such as the United States, the European Union, Japan, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

(Source: NDO)