Fruit and vegetable exports have many prospects in the second quarter

Source: Vinanet.vn

With the growth momentum of Vietnam’s fruit and vegetable exports in the first quarter of 2023 estimated at nearly 1 billion USD, up 7% over the same period in 2022, the fruit and vegetable industry gave a good signal for exports, after rice exports in the year. 2023.

Dang Phuc Nguyen, General Secretary of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association (Vinafruit), said that in the first quarter of 2023, fruit and vegetable exports only increased by 7 – 8% due to the high consumption demand during the Lunar New Year holiday. January and February grew hot, after Tet the demand decreased, so exports slowed down. On the other hand, when the Chinese market grows, other markets do not grow or growth slows down. Also because of the growth of the Chinese market, businesses focus on promoting exports to this market. At the same time, the price of raw materials also increased, some items increased sharply such as durian, dragon fruit,… this made the market for these fruits in Vietnam much more exciting.

Also from the strong fruit import activity of the Chinese market, many Vietnamese border gates have also extended their operating hours to 22 hours a day. That proves that China’s import demand for fruit is still good, so the export turnover of vegetables and fruits in the second quarter may increase by 10% or even higher. Thus, in the first two quarters of the year, export turnover of vegetables and fruits will be equivalent to 2 billion USD – Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen said.

Analyzing the fruit export market in the second quarter of 2023, Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen said that when durian fruit was officially exported to China, on September 17, 2022 there were more than 100 tons of the first durian. has been officially exported to this market, according to the Protocol on phytosanitary requirements between the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam and the General Administration of Customs of China. Currently, this market still continuously orders Vietnamese durian products. In the first 3 months of 2023, Vietnamese durian has not yet entered the main season, so it is only moderately exported to this market. Entering April 2023 onwards, durian at the time of the main season, the goods are abundant, starting to meet the orders.

In addition, in addition to the main product durian, plus jackfruit, banana and dragon fruit as the main agricultural products, will bring fruit and vegetable export turnover to the market of 1.4 billion people, reaching at least $ 2.5 billion. this year, accounting for 62.5% of the country’s total export turnover. It shows that the fruit and vegetable industry has great prospects in this market.

Processed vegetables have more opportunities

According to the Import and Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade), in all exported fruit and vegetable products, processed vegetables account for a significant proportion. In the export results in 2022, processed vegetables and fruits account for one-third of the turnover. In the first quarter of 2023, this ratio also maintained its position, showing the trend of consumers gradually gaining acceptance of this product.

Talking about the advantages of processed fruits and vegetables, Mr. Nguyen Van Thu, General Director of GC Food Joint Stock Company, developing the fruit and vegetable industry in the direction of processing not only helps control costs, but also increases the value of goods. 3 – 4 times higher than fresh products. In particular, this activity also helps to increase the shelf life of agricultural products, freeing the situation of local oversupply. However, not all fruit-producing enterprises are capable of making processed fruits. Because this is an industry that requires large capital, modern equipment and technology to be able to create competitive products.

Many businesses operating in the field of fruit processing reflect that, at present, only about 30% of businesses have the ability to access bank capital, the rest are small and medium-sized, so access to loans is difficult. not easy, policy mechanism, low level of support.

Faced with this situation, Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Nafoods Joint Stock Company, said that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Industry and Trade need to propose authorities to have a prioritized centralized budget. support businesses with preferential loans to invest in cold storage systems and invest in technological innovation and development of fruit and vegetable processing plants. When investing in factories, the authorities need to manage the planning of planting areas appropriately, avoiding the situation that there are factories without raw materials. In this way, processed fruits and vegetables will have more opportunities to affirm their position in the export market.

Besides, in order to increase the promotion of the image as well as the quality of processed fruit products, contributing to improving the efficiency of Vietnam’s fruit and vegetable exports, businesses also increase digital applications, develop Developing digital and e-commerce platforms to increase the competitiveness of products – Mr. Pham Anh Tuan shared.