Workers stack durian onto a truck for transportation in Da Huoai district of Lâm Đồng Province. VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI Despite declines in the export of some agricultural products, overseas shipments of fruits and vegetables remain positive, promising bright prospects in the second quarter of 2023.

Việt Nam exported nearly US$1 billion worth of fruits and vegetables in Q1, rising 7 per cent from a year earlier, reported the Centre for Digital Transformation and Statistics under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Đặng Phúc Nguyên, Secretary General of the Việt Nam Fruit Association (Vinafruit), said thanks to high demand in China, which reopened in Q1 after the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses have promoted exports to this neighbouring market. Prices of fruits such as durian and dragon fruit have also soared.

Due to China’s strong fruit import, many border gates of Việt Nam have extended their working time to 10pm every day. 

Good demand for fruit imports in China can help raise total fruit and vegetable exports in Q2 by 10 per cent or higher, Nguyên noted, predicting that the revenue can reach about $2 billion in the first half of 2023.

Giving further details, he said that since Vietnamese durian was licensed to be exported via the official channel to China last year, this market has continually placed durian import orders. However, the first three months of the year were not the peak harvest time so the export volume of this fruit remained low. When the harvest season begins in April, supplies will become abundant and businesses can better meet importers’ demand.

Aside from durian, jackfruit, banana, and dragon fruit are also among staple exports to China, which will help increase fruit and vegetable shipments to this 1.4-billion-people market to at least $2.5 billion this year, according to Nguyên.

The fruit and vegetable sector now has bright prospects in this market, he added.

In addition, processed products made up a considerable part, one-third, of fruit and vegetable exports in 2022. This proportion was maintained in Q1 this year, showing foreign consumers’ gradual acceptance of those products from Việt Nam, according to the Foreign Trade Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade. VNS