Source: thuonghieucongluan.com.vn
From the perspective of observers, the expansion of the category of fresh fruit imported from the US will contribute to promoting US agricultural export turnover into Vietnam.
Explaining the cause of imported agricultural products. Imported fruit. Internet photo.
In 2024, the export turnover of fruits and vegetables from the United States to Vietnam reached nearly 544 million USD, an increase of 64% compared to 2023. This is a superior growth compared to the overall growth rate of the total import of vegetables (23.7%), reflecting the demand for American fruit consumption in Vietnam is increasing sharply.
Not only stopped at vegetables, in the past year, Vietnam has also imported nearly 1.5 billion USD of corn and soybeans from the US, mainly serving the industrial animal feed manufacturing industry. At the same time, Vietnam has approved 60/61 applications for permission to import genetically modified foods from the US, including important items such as corn and soybeans.
At the end of March 2025, the Ministry of Finance proposed a draft decree amending Decree 26/2023 to adjust the import tax rate for some groups of goods, including agricultural products from the US. This proposal includes the reduction of MFN tax (tax rate applicable to WTO member countries) for American frozen chicken thighs from 20% to 15%; Pistachios from 15% to 5%; Almonds from 10% to 5%; Fresh apples from 8% to 5%; Cherry from 10% to 5%; And raisins from 12% to 5%.
According to Mr. Nguyen Quoc Hung, Director of the Department of Tax Policy Management and Monitoring Department, the Ministry of Finance, the amendment of this tax policy not only helps to improve trade balance with partners but also encourages businesses to diversify imported goods, creating direct benefits for domestic consumers.
Imported food, illustrations, internet sources.
Dr. Chu Thanh Tuan, an economist, said that Vietnam’s increase in importing agricultural products from the US to contribute to balancing trade balance in the context of the US tends to tighten trade policies. According to him, one of the effective solutions to reduce the pressure from the US government is to expand the import of American agricultural products such as soybeans, beef, corn and wheat – products that the US is excess supply and want to find consumption markets.
The trend of importing agricultural products is growing strongly as a “whirlwind”, especially with the ability to boost import from the US to balance trade, this can create significant pressure for the agricultural industry of Vietnam. Facing that context, in order not to be “inferior” at home, the Vietnamese agricultural industry needs to have strategic changes, improve competitiveness through product quality and reasonable prices. In particular, instead of just focusing on exports, the domestic agricultural industry also needs to firmly consolidate the domestic market share to avoid the risk of foreign businesses gaining advantage.
In March 2025, Vietnam imported fruits and vegetables worth 172.1 million USD (about 4,400 billion), up 4.2% compared to the previous month and 6.5% over the same period in 2024. For the first three months, this figure reached US $ 577.8 million (14,774 billion VND), up 17.2% over the same period last year.
Explaining the cause of imported agricultural products. Artwork, Internet.
The largest markets supply for Vietnam include China, the United States, Australia, Chile, Myanmar, South Korea, India, Cambodia and Thailand. Some of the outstanding imported items are milk grapes from China, Cherry from Chile, Apple from the US and Australia … Notably, the milk grapes with the price of only a few tens of thousands of dong per kilogram quickly appeared widely in the network markets and people’s markets.
Besides the fruit, meat imports also recorded significant growth. Although the data of March 2025 has not been updated, in the first two months of the year, Vietnam spent more than 373 million USD (more than 9,500 billion VND) imported meat, up 40.5% over the same period in 2024. Of which, India is the largest supplier, followed by Russia, USA, Brazil, Canada, Police and the Netherlands.
Notably, in the coming time, Vietnam can increase the import of agricultural products from the US to balance the bilateral trade balance. At a meeting with the US Ambassador to the end of March 2025, the Minister of Agriculture and Environment Do Duc Duy said that Vietnam is completing technical procedures to grant permits to import a number of more agricultural products from the US, including tangerine, plum and lemon.
The draft of the conditions for importing these fruits is expected to be completed in April or May 2025, showing Vietnam’s initiative in expanding the list of imported agricultural products, meeting the diverse needs of domestic consumers.
