4 months, fruit and vegetable exports earn about 1.6 billion USD
According to report of Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association (VinaFruit), as of April 21, export value of Vietnam's fruit and vegetable products reached nearly 453 million USD, down 5.3% compared to the previous month and down more than 25% compared to the same period in 2024. Preliminary estimates for the first 4 months of the year, fruit and vegetable exports reached 1.6 billion USD, down more than 14% compared to the same period last year.
Fashion trends
Speaking to reporters of Industry and Trade Newspaper, Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen - Chairman of Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association said that decline in durian export turnover since the beginning of the year has caused export turnover of the whole industry to decrease sharply.
Accordingly, by the end of the first quarter of 2025, durian exports only earned 98 million USD, ranking 3rd among Vietnam's key export items. Of which, dragon fruit exports regained the top position with a turnover of nearly 155 million USD. In second place was bananas with 128 million USD.
In terms of market, by the end of the first quarter of 2025, fruit and vegetable exports to China only reached 521 million USD, down more than 238 million USD, down 31% compared to the same period last year.
According to Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen, China is currently still checking 100% of durian shipments from Vietnam, similar to Thailand. This leads to a situation where goods have to wait a long time at the border gate, causing damage and quality degradation.
Durian has more competitors
In mid-April 2025, Cambodia and China signed a Protocol on plant quarantine for exporting fresh durian from Cambodia to China. Thus, Cambodia is the 5th country to sign a protocol on exporting fresh durian to China, after Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines.
In addition to Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Cambodia, two other countries are very close to completing an agreement to export durian to this market. Specifically, Indonesia with frozen durian and Laos are in the process of preparing documents to open the market and have been approved in principle for export.
According to Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen, Cambodian durian season mainly takes place from May to June. Meanwhile, Vietnamese durian is available year-round, with the main season taking place from March to November and the off-season in the Western region taking place from November to March of the following year. This is considered an advantage of Vietnamese durian.
On other hand, Cambodia currently has a total of 5,289 hectares of durian land, of which 3,403 hectares have been put into production, with an annual output of 36,656 tons.
Area of durian cultivation in Vietnam is currently over 155,000 hectares, with a total output in 2024 exceeding 1.2 million tonnes/year. Thus, the area and output of durian in Cambodia are still far behind Vietnam.
Currently, China is Vietnam's largest fruit and vegetable export market, so the growth in exports to China will have a positive impact on the entire industry.
Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen also expects that the export value of fruits and vegetables in general and durian in particular, of Vietnam will recover in the second quarter. Particularly for durian, exports are forecast to increase thanks to the supply and demand of the Chinese market.
However, according to Mr. Nguyen, a notable new point, related to phytosanitary requirements for fresh Cambodian durian exported to this market, is that for the first time, China has prohibited the use of any inedible additives in the durian packaging process, with goal of enhancing food safety for domestic consumers.
This is a move that shows China is further improving its quality control standards for imported agricultural and food products, especially after incidents involving banned substance residues discovered in some durian shipments in early 2025.
To increase export turnover, Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen said that businesses and producers must focus on improving quality and ensuring food safety, absolutely no pesticide residues and heavy metals according to the regulations of the importing country.
In addition, exporting units need to meet strict standards of the Chinese market, including strict compliance with the management of growing area codes, packaging facility codes, processes, production logs, etc.

Source: Vitic/ congthuong.vn