HCM CITY — Viet Nam has great potential for exporting fruit and vegetables but needs to develop its processing industry and upgrade sanitary condition to meet strict international standards, experts have said.
The country exports fruit and vegetables to more than 50 countries, according to the Southern Fruit Research Institute.
The General Department of Statistics reports, export turnover for fruit and vegetables rose from US$151.5 million in 2003 to $437 million in 2009.
The country expects to reach export turnover of $760 million by the end of the year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
During the last several years, the country has exported about 260,000 tonnes of fruit annually, with an export turnover of $75 million per year, according to the Southern Fruit Research Institute.
The number of major export markets grew from 13 in 2004 to 17 this year, including mainlandChina, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, the Netherlands, Russia, Japan, the US and Australia.
China has the most potential, accounting for 41 per cent of the export turnover.
But after China signed a preferential tax agreement with Thailand, Viet Nam's fruit exports have fallen due to higher tariff duties imposed by China.
In 2004, after it joined the World Trade Organisation (WTO), China also set higher standards for imported fruit, which has also affected Vietnamese fruit exports.
Popular exported fruits from Viet Nam include pineapple, dragonfruit, banana, rambutan, longan, mango, mangosteen and durian.
Dragonfruit is the country's leading exported fruit. Key export markets for Binh Thuan dragonfruit (mostly cultivated in central Binh Thuan Province) are Southeast Asia and China.
The dragonfruit export market has also expanded to Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, France and the US.
However, the fruit's export turnover dropped from $17.17 million in 2007 to $15.28 million in 2009.
Today, the requirements of quality and safety for the export market, is stricter, posing many challenges in the near future, according to the Southern Fruit Research Institute.
Processed-fruit industry
According to the institute, Viet Nam has potential to develop a fruit and vegetable processing industry, but has failed to exploit it to the fullest.
Mango, grapefruit, custard apple, durian, orange, banana, dragonfruit, guava, watermelon, eggplant and chili are among the fruits and vegetables that could be processed.
The country has 49 fruit and vegetable processing factories with a total capacity of more than 300,000 tonnes of products per year.
They include 12 factories in the southeastern region, with a capacity of 93,100 tonnes of products per year; 10 factories in Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta, with 77,060 tonnes of products per year; and 10 factories in the Red River Delta, with 60,800 tonnes of products per year.
However, several processing factories closed soon after opening, while others have operated inefficiently due to the lack of advanced technology, raw materials for processing, capital and markets.
Most fruit processing factories are operating at only 30 per cent of their capacity.
Fruits sold in markets are mostly unprocessed, fresh fruits. Only 11 per cent of fresh fruits are used for processing.
The investment in the industry has not been managed well, said Nguyen Van Phong, manager of the post-harvest department of the Southern Fruit Research Institute.
According to the Institute for Agriculture Planning, the country failed to create a value chain for the entire process "from field to fork".
Preservation following harvests is still weak, which affects the processing step, resulting in low-quality products, the institute said.
The strategy for developing agricultural processing products still lacks links between relevant companies and units during the entire field-to-fork process.
Fruit processing products include juices made from grapes, oranges, strawberries, apples and others; dried fruits like lichee, longan, jackfruit, grape, banana and others; and fruit jams made from plum, strawberry, apple, tamarind, custard apple and others.
The output for fruit and vegetable processing remains low, while the diversity of the products is still limited, mostly focusing on canned fruit and dried fruits.
Other processing products like fermented fruits products and powdered fruits are still using outdated, manual technologies.
Recently, Viet Nam has begun buying advanced assembly lines or technologies for processing fruits such as canned fruits and dried fruits.
The total area for fruit cultivation in Viet Nam is one million hectares, of which the Mekong Delta has the largest area.
Fruits that have large output per year include banana, which accounts for 1,511,300 tonnes (21.5 per cent); longan, 607,700 tonnes (8.68 per cent); mango, 537,900 tonnes (7.68 per cent); grapefruit, 389,400 tonnes (5.56 per cent); lychee, 301,100 tonnes; dragonfruit, 288,400 tonnes; rambutan, 269,000 tonnes; durian, 134,894 tonnes; and star apple, 96,860 tonnes.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the country's total output of fruit reached 4.5 million tonnes in 2000, 6 million tonnes in 2005 and 7 million tonnes in 2009.
The total area for cultivating vegetables of Viet Nam reached 700,000ha with a total output of 14 million tonnes, of which 100,000ha is for clean vegetables cultivated with high technology.
Developing the processing industry could help ensure sales for agricultural products, thus adding to the value of Vietnamese fruit exports, according to the ministry. — VNS
