Source: Vnexpress.net
China, South Korea, and the US increased purchases to help Vietnam’s processed fruits and vegetables flourish in the first months of the year, reducing the situation of “good harvests losing prices” for many years.
Mr. Nguyen Van Thu – Chairman of the Board of Directors of GC Food – said that domestic consumers’ purchasing power for processed fruits and vegetables slowed down at the beginning of the year but in the world is still increasing. High-quality, healthy products are increasingly prioritized by consumers in many countries in their shopping carts.
“At the beginning of the year, the company’s export revenue increased by 10% compared to the same period last year. We are having orders all year with high output and value. In which, Korea and Japan are the favorite markets. aloe vera and Vietnamese coconut jelly,” Mr. Thu said.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Ha – CEO of Westfood Western Food Processing Export Joint Stock Company – also said that sales volume in the first 2 months of the year increased by nearly 50% compared to the same period in 2023. In particular, the market European, American, Australian, and New Zealand markets all increased sharply. This shows the increasing potential and popularity of processed fruits and vegetables.
GC Food’s aloe vera processing factory in Ninh Thuan. Image: flexible knitting
According to Ms. Ha, the dietary needs of people around the world are leaning towards processed goods. In the US market, her business’s canned products are growing at the fastest rate, nearly 7 times higher than the same period in 2023. Europe – a market with many technical barriers – has also grown over the same period. 30% over the same period last year.
Similarly, Vinamit – an enterprise with a large market share of dried fruit in China – also has regular orders. Vinamit CEO Nguyen Lam Vien said bananas, dried jackfruit, frozen durian… will be booming products this year.
Businesses believe that Vietnam has many advantages with abundant supply and competitive production costs. Meanwhile, El Nino around the world is causing the harvest season of competitors such as Thailand, Peru, and Ecuador to be delayed and greatly affected in supply output. In particular, in the Chinese and Vietnamese markets, there are many advantages in terms of fast delivery time, low shipping costs…
Data from the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association shows that from 2022 to now, processed fruit and vegetable exports have always reached over 1 billion USD. In 2023 alone, exports of this product will reach nearly 1.3 billion USD, up 20% over the same period last year.
Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen, General Secretary of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, assessed that processed fruits and vegetables officially join the billion-dollar “club” of the agricultural industry. It is expected that exports of this industry this year can reach nearly 1.6 billion USD.
“Currently, China has allowed Vietnam to export frozen durian to this market, so the turnover of processed fruits and vegetables could reach 2 billion USD,” he predicted.
Sharing the same opinion, Mr. Vien said that when China consumes a lot of Vietnam’s processed fruits and vegetables, agricultural product prices will stabilize and farmers will not worry about “a poor harvest”. Processed ingredients also have a longer shelf life, reducing waste and disposal.
In addition to the Chinese market, according to Mr. Nguyen Van Thu, potential new markets such as Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and India also prefer Vietnamese fruits and vegetables when the products are high quality, delicious, and competitively priced.
According to Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, processed fruits and vegetables account for 24% of total fruit and vegetable export turnover. Currently, the scale of the world market for processed fruits and vegetables is large, forecast to reach about 392 billion USD by 2025. With the advantage of being a country with abundant supply, Vietnam will have a place in the international market. economy when many businesses participate in sustainable value chains.
However, experts say that Vietnam also faces the risk of reduced raw material supply. Tensions in the Red Sea region have caused freight rates to rise. Typically, freight rates for shipments from Vietnam to the EU increased 3-5 times compared to the same period last year. Shipping companies had to change their schedules with extended hours, some transport routes had to stop, leading to shortages, pushing up costs.
To create growth momentum, businesses said they are expanding their scale and creating sustainable raw material areas. At GC Food, this year, the company has invested in upgrading production lines with increased capacity to 25,000 tons for the Aloe Vera factory and 20,000 tons for the Coconut Jelly factory. With the aloe vera leaf material area, businesses still invest in close links with farmers. This supply will meet 30% of the company’s total demand this year.
With Vinamit, this business, in addition to creating its own raw material area, also associates with thousands of farmers to create a value chain.
Meanwhile, Westfood said it is proactively developing nurseries and raw material areas expected to reach 1,000 hectares in the Mekong Delta, focusing mainly on MD2 pineapples, mangoes, papayas…
