Rapid development
According to Vietnam Coconut Association, Vietnam's fresh coconut exports have only been formed and developed in the past 8 years, but have grown very quickly with fresh coconut export turnover increasing 10 times. To date, fresh coconuts have been exported to more than 40 countries around the world, reaching a turnover of about 250 million USD in 2023, accounting for about 20-25% of total export turnover of coconut industry nationwide.
Notably, recently, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam and General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) signed a Protocol on exporting fresh coconuts to this billion-people market.
Mr. Hoang Trung - Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development - said that China consumes more than 4 billion coconuts each year, of which 2.6 billion are for immediate consumption and 1.5 billion are for processing but your production capacity has not yet met all of them, so it will be a great opportunity for Vietnam. Therefore, this is a very good opportunity to reorganize production, link up and expand market.
Sharing the same opinion on this issue, Mr. Huynh Tan Dat - Director of Plant Protection Department (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam) - said that this is an opportunity for the Vietnamese coconut industry to develop further. However, along with that are challenges for management agencies and localities in inspecting and supervising the processes. Therefore, parties must coordinate closely and work together to create the most favorable conditions for exporting fresh coconuts to China.
In addition to opportunities brought by the market, according to Mr. Cao Ba Dang Khoa - General Secretary of Vietnam Coconut Association, the coconut industry is also facing certain difficulties, in which, enterprises are having difficulty in purchasing fresh coconuts in large quantities with uniformity in type, size, quality or there are not many concentrated raw coconut areas.
Mr. Cao Ba Dang Khoa cited that due to lack of concentrated growing areas for each type of coconut for export, if a enterprise signs a contract to export 50 containers of green coconuts, it is very difficult to purchase this type of coconut separately. Enterprises are forced to buy all types of coconuts in the same area and then classify them to have coconuts that meet requirements of their partners.
Localities take action
As locality with the 5th largest coconut growing area in the country, after Ben Tre, Tra Vinh, Tien Giang, Vinh Long provinces, Mr. Kieu Van Cang - Head of Department of Cultivation and Plant Protection of Binh Dinh - said that by 2023, coconut area in Binh Dinh will be 9,353 hectares; of which, area of Siamese coconut (drinking coconut) accounts for 24.5%, equivalent to about 2,292 hectares; average yield is 119.3 quintals/ha, output is 111,358 tonnes/year.
According to the plan, by 2025, Binh Dinh will increase coconut area to 10,000 hectares, of which 9,700 hectares are commercial coconuts, output is 116,400 tonnes/year. Fresh coconuts are officially exported to China, which is an opportunity for farmers who own nearly 3,000 hectares of Siamese coconuts in Binh Dinh. Currently, this locality is completing procedure to apply for a growing area code for more than 70 hectares of green coconut trees in Phu Cat and Hoai An districts. Because growing area code is a prerequisite for exporting fresh coconuts to Chinese market.
Considering coconut capital of the country, total coconut area of Ben Tre province currently has nearly 80,000 hectares of coconut trees with a yield of over 688,000 tonnes of fruit; of which there are about 15,865 hectares of green coconut trees, accounting for 20.53% of total coconut area. Annual output is estimated at about 145 million fruits.
To prepare for exporting fresh coconuts to the US and Chinese markets, agricultural sector of Ben Tre province is completing coconut production process, improving quality of coconuts, supporting businesses to build growing areas and preparing relevant documents according to regulations before exporting coconuts to these two markets.
Regarding Chinese market, according to Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ben Tre, the province has built a pilot of 6 concentrated coconut production areas; 5 areas producing according to organic standards and 1 area producing drinking coconut. Ben Tre has built a coconut area participating in the value chain of over 23,700 hectares, accounting for over 30% of the province's total coconut area, with an output of over 230,000 tonnes. Currently, 20 enterprises have participated in building packaging facilities and growing area codes for export to the Chinese market; of which, 13 packaging facilities, 35 growing areas with 2,343 hectares have submitted documents to Plant Protection Department to prepare to meet needs of the Chinese market.
Vietnamese coconut industry is ranked 4th in total value in the world coconut market and Vietnam's coconut and coconut product exports in 2023 will reach over 900 million USD. In particular, the main markets importing fresh coconuts from Vietnam are the US, Japan, Korea... Expanding official export market to China will create motivation for businesses to participate in registering growing area codes and packaging facility codes that meet export standards, opening up a brighter future for the Vietnamese coconut industry.
According to businesses, signing of the Protocol on official coconut exports to China will help this item have opportunity to surpass the 1 billion USD mark in the near future, while opening up opportunities to "make a living" for many key coconut localities. Coconut is one of the 6 subjects in the project to develop key industrial crops. Currently, the whole country has about 200,000 hectares of coconut with an annual output of over 2 million tonnes. Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen - General Secretary of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association - said that with 1.4 billion people, China is one of the largest coconut consuming markets in the world. Being allowed to officially export to China opens up great opportunities for Vietnamese coconut industry. Because this is a market with a very close geographical distance, short transportation time and low cost, the products will be competitive with other countries.

Source: Vitic/ congthuong.vn