However, the growth rate felt to meet expectation as vegetable and fruit export jumped sharply by over 30% over the last four years, especially 42.42% in 2017.

The MARD reported that so far Vietnamese fruits and vegetables are available in 60 foreign countries and territories.

China ranked first by occupying 73.8% of the market share.

Export turnovers grew sharply in the following markets: Australia with 36.8%; the U.S. with 34.7%; Thailand with 32.4%; the RoK with 28.7%; and China with 11.3%.

On the other hand, import turnover of fruits and vegetables valued US$ 1.57 billion, representing a year-on-year growth of 11.5%. Thailand was the largest provider by holding 41.3%; followed by China with 24.4%.

So far, in the first 11 months, vegetables and fruits ran a trade surplus of US$ 1.93 billion.

Earlier, the MARD set a goal of US$ 10 billion export turnover by 2025 following sharp growth of 42% and record export turnover of US$ 3.5 billion in 2017. However, with 10% growth rate at present, by 2025, overseas shipment of fruits and vegetables would be about US$ 6 billion, much lower than the preset goal.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Hong, former Director of the Plant Protection Department pointed out tgat the country's vegetable and fruit processing industry remains underdeveloped and while a few enterprises have invested in the industry, and there is a shortage of large-scale central production regions.

At present, Vietnamese fruit and vegetable exports are struggling to cope with technical barriers in food safety and plant quarantine.