Vietnamese fruits and vegetables affirm their position in the world market.

Vietnam's fruit and vegetable exports are poised to reach $10 billion in export value as a range of fruits continue to gain access to new markets.

Processing is a solution that helps increase the export value of fruits and vegetables.

Vietnamese fruit producers are about to receive good news.

According to information from the Plant Protection Department ( Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development ), Vietnamese passion fruit is expected to be officially licensed in 2025. Exporting to the US market is the result of negotiations between Vietnam and the United States regarding phytosanitary measures for this fruit.

The technical negotiations have now been completed, and both sides are currently finalizing the necessary legal procedures. The approval of passion fruit for the US market promises to provide a significant impetus for Vietnam's fruit and vegetable industry to further expand exports, especially to other demanding markets.

Earlier, on September 9th, the Plant Protection Department, together with the Australian Embassy, held a ceremony to announce the export of Vietnamese passion fruit to Australia and the export of Australian plums to Vietnam.

Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Andrew Goledzinowski assessed this as a new milestone in cooperation between the two countries, especially in In the agricultural sector, after mangoes, longan, lychees, and dragon fruit, passion fruit has become the fifth fresh fruit from Vietnam to be officially exported to Australia.

Since the beginning of the year, fruits and vegetables have been among the top-performing export items in the country's agricultural sector. Surpassing the initial forecast (fruit and vegetable exports reaching $6 billion), this year's exports have set a new record, projected to bring in $7.2 billion.

By 2025, with many favorable factors, Vietnam's fruit industry aims to bring in at least 8 billion USD. If this milestone is successfully achieved, Vietnam will be among the top 5 countries in the world for fruit exports.

Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen, General Secretary of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, shared: “In 2022, the export turnover of fruits and vegetables only reached 3.3 billion USD. Last year, we had a record of 5.6 billion USD, and this year we expect to earn between 7.1 and 7.2 billion USD.”

In the first 11 months of the year, the top 10 markets for Vietnamese fruits and vegetables continued to experience impressive growth. Thailand saw an increase of nearly 80%, while South Korea, Russia, the United States, and the Middle East also increased by 36-40%.

With expanded markets thanks to free trade agreements and negotiations to open up more new types of fruits and vegetables, Vietnam is very confident about its goals for next year.

Leading the list of exported fruits and vegetables is durian, with an estimated value of $3.3 billion. Second is dragon fruit, at approximately $435 million; however, compared to last year, this item has seen a decline due to China reducing imports by 40% in 2024. Third are bananas and mangoes, along with other items such as jackfruit, coconut, and watermelon…

New record expectations for 2025

Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen expects that if this year's fruit and vegetable export turnover reaches 7.2 billion USD, it could reach 8 billion USD next year. This is due to several new factors emerging, such as frozen durian, fresh coconuts exported to China, passion fruit currently under negotiation with the US for export, and other new products entering the market.

Durian is a bright spot in the fruit and vegetable export landscape.

Furthermore, for products like passion fruit, pomelo, fresh coconut, and frozen durian, which are new to the market, businesses are still struggling with obtaining planting area codes, packaging facility codes, and establishing relationships with foreign partners. In other words, businesses are currently in the preparation phase. Some products, such as pomelo and coconut, have already had their first shipments exported, but not in large quantities. These products will be able to fully capitalize on their advantages next year.

Mr. Nguyen Phong Phu, Technical Director of Vina T&T Group, believes that businesses processing and exporting vegetables and fruits in general, and fruit in particular, are facing a great opportunity to increase export turnover. This is due to the increasing global market demand for these goods, while Vietnam is doing very well in opening up its markets. With the official signing of the Protocol on phytosanitary and food safety requirements for frozen durian exported from Vietnam to China; and the Protocol on phytosanitary requirements for fresh coconut exported from Vietnam to China, a large market has opened for these two key products of the vegetable and fruit industry. Furthermore, the quality of Vietnamese fruit is also improving, meeting the standards of each importing country, thus increasing competitiveness when entering many high-quality markets.

At the end of November, at the Phu Huu A concentrated industrial cluster (Mai Dam town, Chau Thanh district, Hau Giang province), Hanh Nguyen Logistics Joint Stock Company held the opening ceremony of its agricultural product irradiation plant with a capacity of 1,000 tons of products per day and night.

Along with the deployment of the irradiation machine, Hanh Nguyen Logistics also upgraded its warehousing system to 23,000 pallets, providing pre-processing, processing, freezing, and packaging services that meet international standards such as HACCP and FSSC 22000, helping to improve the quality of agricultural products, including exported fruits and vegetables.

According to Mr. Dao Trong Khoa, Chairman of the Vietnam Logistics Business Association, exports of agricultural, forestry, and aquatic products are projected to reach US$62 billion in 2024. This is thanks to the contributions of Hanh Nguyen Logistics, which has pioneered irradiation and cold storage technologies, as well as its multi-service one-stop shop approach, which has helped bridge the gap between Vietnamese agricultural products and the global market.

However, fruit and vegetable exports are also facing many difficulties as countries intensify inspections of imported goods. For example, recently, the Vietnam SPS Office (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) sent a notice to the Plant Protection Department and the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association regarding the amendment of Regulation (EU) 2019/1793 on the temporary enhancement of official controls and emergency measures governing the entry of certain goods from certain third countries into the EU. Accordingly, for Vietnamese durian, the EU has temporarily increased the frequency of border inspections from 10% to 20%.

The cause is non-compliance with regulations on pesticide residue levels. Accordingly, EU authorities have detected high levels of pesticide residues in durian, including: Carbendazim, Fipronil, Azoxystrobin, Dimethomorph, Metalaxyl, Lambda-cyhalothrin, and Acetamiprid. The EU has maximum residue limits (MRLs) for these substances ranging from 0.005-0.1 mg/kg depending on the type.

For dragon fruit, chili peppers, and okra, the EU maintains the same frequency of border inspections. Specifically, dragon fruit is inspected at 30%, while chili peppers and okra are inspected at 50%. These three products, when imported into the EU market, must be accompanied by pesticide residue analysis results.

Therefore, experts suggest that, along with ensuring quality standards, businesses need to boost processing, focusing on deep processing to both increase added value and mitigate seasonal risks like those associated with fresh exports. Currently, the volume of processed fresh fruits and vegetables remains low while the annual harvest volume is very large. This is also one of the main reasons why Vietnam's fruit and vegetable export value remains low in markets and regions with high demand for processed products such as Europe, the US, and South Korea.

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