FTA agreement supports Vietnamese fruits and vegetables
According to Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, in a period of 2020 - 2024, this industry faced many difficulties, export turnover of fruits and vegetables from 2020 - 2022 continuously decreased due to impact of Covid-19 epidemic. However, in 2023, when the world basically controlled the epidemic, Vietnam's fruit and vegetable exports quickly regained growth momentum and reached a high speed at the end of the year. Export turnover for the whole year of 2023 reached 5.6 billion USD compared to nearly 3.4 billion USD in 2022, an increase of 67%. Continuing the strong growth momentum of 2023, fruit and vegetable exports in 2024 have accelerated and reached a spectacular finish line with nearly 7.2 billion USD, an increase of 27.1% compared to 2023
Vietnam's fruit export market has expanded and grown strongly thanks to implementation of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), including important new generation FTAs such as CPTPP, RCEPT, EVFTA, UKVFTA, ACFTA... Vietnam's fruit and vegetable industry has reached more than 80 countries and regions in the world; in which, key export markets include China, the US, Korea, Japan, Thailand, the Netherlands, Australia...
Mr. Nguyen Thanh Binh - Chairman of Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association - informed that Vietnam is integrating well into the global economy, the state has actively negotiated and signed 17 FTAs to expand export market for fruits and vegetables.
In particular, China has granted official export licenses to 12 types of Vietnamese fruits, including durian, which has pushed Vietnam's fruit and vegetable export turnover to China to a new level of development.
Many key fruit trees have formed concentrated, specialized production areas in direction of commodity production; gardeners are constantly improving their level of cultivation, care and intensive farming techniques, improving and having cooperation and sharing of benefits for mutual development among businesses.
Mr. Nguyen Thanh Binh predicts that in the coming years, export market will continue to expand with the main regions being China, Korea, ASEAN countries, the United States, Canada, the EU. In addition, there are potential markets such as India, UAE, Australia and New Zealand. This is a large area for the Vietnamese fruit and vegetable industry to continue to boost exports in the coming years.
However, in addition to advantages, the industry also faces many challenges from climate change, pests and diseases, overuse of inorganic fertilizers and pesticides affecting life of gardens, productivity, quality and food safety. Trade competition between producing countries, technical barriers from importing countries, especially requirements on quarantine and food safety are increasingly numerous, more sophisticated and tend to increase in all markets.
Subjectively, although there has been a significant improvement in productivity and quality of vegetables and fruits in some traditional production areas, in general, productivity and quality of fruit trees in our country are still not high compared to the average of the region and the world, lacking a chain production model due to small scale, fragmentation and dispersion.
Rate of post-harvest loss is still high, post-harvest processing technology is slow to change. Product distribution and consumption system is not professional; lack of linkage between enterprises, farmers and consumers; fruit value chain still goes through intermediaries, causing high prices and easy to break...
Mr. Hoang Trung - Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development - assessed that quality of Vietnamese fruit and vegetable products is increasingly improved, many markets favor it. However, facing increasing demands of the market, fruit and vegetable industry needs to focus on overcoming limitations in production - consumption linkage, building raw material areas, and increasing processing rates.
In addition to export market, fruit and vegetable industry also needs to focus on exploiting the domestic market, providing quality and safe products to more than 100 million people in the country.
Aiming for the target of 10 billion USD
Following the success of fruit and vegetable exports in 2023 and 2024, at the Congress of Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, term V (2024-2029) held on the afternoon of January 6, the Association set a target of 10 billion USD in fruit and vegetable exports by 2030. To achieve this goal, the Association will focus on 7 key tasks.
First, organize propaganda and mobilize members to implement the State's guidelines, policies and laws, ensuring that members' activities are in line with the country's economic development orientation and in line with the world's development trends.
Second, do a better job of being a bridge between the State and businesses.
Third, advise, guide and mobilize members to organize production according to market demand, applying high technology to produce quality and safe products for users.
Fourth, support and create conditions for producers and enterprises to cooperate, joint venture and associate to build a stable and sustainable supply chain and value chain, enhancing position and strength of Vietnamese fruits and vegetables in the international arena.
Fifth, organize trade promotion activities, promote the image of Vietnamese fruits and vegetables, support businesses in finding and expanding markets, and building brands to further enhance Vietnam's fruit and vegetable export capacity.
Sixth, provide and update specialized information, reports, analysis, predictions, and forecasts for members, state management agencies, and media agencies to help all levels of society better understand the Vietnamese fruit and vegetable industry.
Seventh, mobilize more organizations and individuals to join the Association, expand the scale, improve the quality of operations, and enhance the prestige and influence of the Association at home and abroad.

Source: Vitic/ congthuong.vn