China's market share plummeted
According to the General Department of Customs, estimated exports of fruits and vegetables in April 2020 reached US $ 390 million, up 7.9% compared to March 2020, but down 15.6% compared to April 2019. Generally for the first 4 months of 2020, exports of fruits and vegetables were estimated at US $ 1.28 billion, down 8.7% over the same period in 2019.
Export of vegetables and fruits decreased over the same period in the past 4 months, mainly due to a sharp decline in exports to the No. 1 market of China. In the first months of this year, due to the Covid-19 epidemic in China, vegetables and fruits were among the most affected commodities in this market.
Specifically, in the first quarter, exports of fruits and vegetables to China reached only US $ 525.6 million, down 22.7% over the same period in 2019.
It is worth noting that while the value of fruits and vegetables exported to China dropped sharply, it increased sharply in many other markets.
In the first quarter, fruit and vegetable exports to Thailand reached more than US $ 50 million, up to 308.8% over the same period in 2019; exported to South Korea reached 41.6 million USD, up 33%; to the US reached nearly 36 million USD, up 12.8%; to Japan reached nearly 36 million USD, up 26% …
Therefore, the value of fruits and vegetables exported to China only accounted for 59.1% of the total value of vegetables exports in the first quarter.
Meanwhile, in the first quarter of last year, the value of vegetables exported to China accounted for 72.4%. Many other markets have had a significant increase in market share: Thailand from 1.3% in the first quarter of 2019 increased to 5.7%; South Korea from 3.3% to 4.7%; America from 3.4% to 4%; Japan from 3% to 4% …
The aforementioned change in terms of market share shows that Vietnamese vegetables and fruits can completely reduce dependence on the Chinese market by boosting exports to other markets.
Good export processing goods
It is also worth noting that, due to the effects of the Covid-19 epidemic, fruit and vegetable exports decreased in turnover compared to the same period last year, but the group of processed vegetables and fruits has grown very strongly.
According to the Import-Export Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade), processed products are one of the categories of fruits and vegetables not affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, when the export value of this item still increased sharply in the first 3 months. 2020.
Specifically, in the first quarter, processed fruits and vegetables for export reached US $ 166.1 million, up to 33% over the same period in 2019.
Mr. Hoang Ha, owner of an enterprise preparing to invest in processing vegetables and fruits, said that with easy-to-use, convenient and long-term preservation characteristics, processed fruit and vegetable products are very potential in the context of The Covid-19 epidemic scene spread globally and it is unknown when it will end.
The Import-Export Department also said that in the context of complicated and unpredictable epidemics, processed products will still be the dominant category due to convenience and long storage time. Therefore, the demand for this category is still increasing.
Even in the Chinese market, when export of vegetables and fruits in general decreased sharply, processed vegetables and fruits still grew well. In the first 2 months of the year, exports of processed fruits and vegetables to China reached US $ 17 million, up 24.5%.
Also in the first 2 months of the year, exports of processed fruits and vegetables to other important markets increased: Korea reached 14 million USD, up 3.1%; Japan reached 8.9 million USD, up 3.1%; The US reached 7.9 million USD, up 16.7% …
However, according to the Import and Export Department, processed fruits and vegetables currently account for only 18.6% of the total export value of fruit and vegetables.
Therefore, the strong growth of processed vegetables and fruits did not compensate much for the decline of the fruit and vegetable industry in the first quarter of this year.
Therefore, it is necessary to continue promoting the export of processed products to increase the export value of the whole vegetable and fruit industry when the disease is still complicated in many markets around the world.
Processed products had the largest export value in the first quarter of 2020: dried mangoes worth US $ 14.4 million (up 149.7% compared to the first quarter of 2019); chili powder 10.6 million USD (up 1375.1%); passion fruit juice 10.6 million USD (up 3.5%); dried fruit nearly 9.5 million USD (up 222.2%); processed grape leaves 8.8 million …
According to Vietnam Agriculture
