Source: Haiquanonline.com.vn
Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen
How do you evaluate the export turnover of the fruit and vegetable industry in the first 2 months of the year and expected results in the first quarter?
In the general context, vegetables and fruits are the few items with positive growth right from the beginning of the year, in which, exports to the Chinese market grew well, about 23% compared to last year. The vegetable industry grew positively. China’s withdrawal of the “Zero-Covid” policy has helped Vietnam’s fruit and vegetable exports to this market regain its growth momentum.
Besides, in 2022 we signed a number of important decrees, especially in July 2022, we signed a protocol with China on durian export; November signed a protocol with China on exporting bananas, then sweet potatoes, bird’s nests hit on the occasion of the Lunar New Year, the Chinese market for vegetables and fruits increased sharply; In October, the US allowed the export of pomelos to this country, in November, New Zealand signed an agreement to open the export market of Vietnam’s pomelos and lemons to this country.
Among the protocols and agreements signed, the most significant is the Chinese market, accounting for 56-60% of export turnover. So when there is a protocol to export bananas, durian are the key products, the export turnover has grown very high. Moreover, from January 8, China opened the border gate, removed the epidemic control and prevention policy, goods can go directly across the border to deliver goods without having to wait for the change of vehicles or trucks. Durian from Dak Lak to the border via the Chinese market only takes 1.5 days, instead of before it took 2-3 weeks to reach the market. Thus, businesses save a lot of logistics costs.
With those advantages, it is expected that in the first quarter of the year, the fruit and vegetable industry will achieve an export turnover of about 900 million to 1 billion USD. In the first two months of the year, the key products are durian that have not yet entered the main season, in March-May durian, and bananas in the main season, it is forecasted that export turnover will increase further.
What factors affect the growth of the fruit and vegetable industry in the second quarter and the end of the year, sir?
To boost the export of vegetables and fruits in 2023, one of the most important requirements is to quickly adapt and best meet the new requirements on quality, food hygiene and safety; register export enterprises according to the regulations of each country; expanding the number of planting area codes, packing facilities for many items… The important issue now for the industry is to improve product quality, implement traceability to best meet demand. of each market.
For example, for durian products, the current problem is that the number of planting area codes and packaging facilities are limited, many businesses have run out of quotas to export to the Chinese market, businesses have to wait until the date of arrival. next year for a new one. That is the bottleneck of durian, which means great potential but few codes, limited output.
What do you think is the cause of this problem?
The biggest difficulty at present is that there are not many planting area codes and packing facility codes to meet the requirements of the Chinese market. For example, when a Vietnamese business contacts Chinese customers, the first thing your business will ask is is there a code? Currently, there are only 246 planting area codes / 12,000 ha of durian growing area, nearly 100 codes of packing facilities, in the durian growing area of Vietnam is 110,000 ha. Meanwhile, Thailand was granted 20,000 planting area codes and nearly 2,000 packing facility codes.
That is, when the Chinese Customs checks to issue the code of the growing area and the code of the packing facility, many businesses do not meet the standards, the records are many but the rate is not high, there are reasons such as: to pack cigarettes. improper plant protection, inadequate insect traps, unsanitary harvesting…
Therefore, to overcome this problem, the Plant Protection Department (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) needs to strengthen propaganda, dissemination, guidance and training for farmers, packaging catch, understand the standards and conditions to be granted a code. It will be very difficult for farmers to cope on their own. On the business side, the leader needs to change the development model to ensure food hygiene and safety standards, and plan the planting area to meet the standard in terms of area in order to obtain the planting area code.
Besides maintaining the opened Chinese transmission market, what solution is needed to expand the potential new market, sir?
The door to China is still very narrow, while the market demand is large. Each year, this market consumes about 300 million tons of vegetables and fruits, but they only import 7-8 million tons. Annual consumption 200kg/person. The room is still very large while the supply of Vietnam is very potential.
However, at present, the biggest difficulty in promoting fruit and vegetable exports to China is that there are still 7/12 export items that do not have a protocol. This makes it difficult for some key products such as dragon fruit, mango, and jackfruit to reach their full potential.
Currently, Thailand’s fruit and vegetable industry is very famous, with an export turnover of 8.5 billion USD, but 70-80% of the goods are exported to the Chinese market. That means China is still a strategic market. While Vietnamese vegetables and fruits exported to this country are only more than 50%. It is partly correct to say that it depends on China, but this is a very important market, taking the Chinese market will open up other markets.
Vegetables and fruits are a commodity industry, if existing advantages are promoted as well as limitations are overcome, the fruit and vegetable industry will surely develop more strongly in the future. Particularly in 2023, the new export milestone of 4 billion USD is very positive.
Thank you Sir!
