Many items recorded double-digit growth
According to a report by the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, the export value of fruits and vegetables in May 2025 is estimated at 550 million USD, bringing the total export value of fruits and vegetables in the first 5 months of 2025 to 2.24 billion USD, down 16% compared to the same period in 2024.
Vietnam's fruit and vegetable products are mainly exported to the Chinese market with an export value proportion of 46.1%. The next two largest fruit and vegetable export markets are the United States and South Korea with export value proportions of 9.1% and 6%, respectively.
Compared to the same period last year, the export value of fruit and vegetables in the first 4 months of 2025 to the Chinese market decreased by 32.8%, the US market increased by 66%, and the Korean market decreased by 5.2%.
Fruit and vegetable exports recorded bright spots when many export turnover items increased. Specifically, mango exports increased by more than 13%, coconut increased by nearly 20%, and in particular, processed coconut increased by 71.3%; ...
Notably, despite many difficulties, according to fruit and vegetable export enterprises, this year, in addition to the Chinese market, the room from other large markets such as Japan, Korea, the United States, Australia, the EU ... is still quite large.
As a business specializing in exporting fruits and vegetables to the US, EU, and Japanese markets, speaking with reporters from the Industry and Trade Newspaper, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tung, General Director of Vina T&T Group, said that in order to export fruits and vegetables to demanding markets, the business has actively promoted, marketed, and sought customers. Thanks to that, many types of Vietnamese fruits are experiencing good growth in exports such as coconut, grapefruit, dragon fruit, frozen durian, etc. "Each month, the company exports about 20 containers of frozen durian to markets, of which the US is the top destination," said Mr. Tung.
According to Mr. Mai Xuan Thin, General Director of Red Dragon Production, Trade, and Service Company Limited, there will be no shortcuts to exporting agricultural products in general and fruits in particular. Accordingly, to be able to export, the first thing to do is to meet the standards. In addition, businesses need to promote investment in preservation technology and approach international technical standards.
As for lychee, due to the short harvest season, the export period only lasts a few weeks. To overcome this weakness, businesses have prepared early, from raw material areas, electronic traceability, and deep cold storage. This helps lychee no longer be a seasonal product, but can be present all year round.
Meeting SPS regulations - "passport" for agricultural trade
After the success in 2024 with an export turnover of more than 7.1 billion USD, the Vietnamese fruit and vegetable industry aims to export 8 billion USD in 2025.
This year, the lychee season recorded positive signals when exports to all markets were favorable. According to the Vietnam Trade Office in Japan, Vietnamese lychees were imported by businesses in this country and sold in all provinces: Fukushima, Aichi, Niigata...
On June 14, more than 100 tonnes of early-ripening lychees from Tan Yen district, Bac Giang province, officially landed safely at Charles de Gaulle airport, Paris (France). With wholesale prices at wholesale markets ranging from 7.2 - 8 Euro/kg equivalent to 220,000 - 240,000 VND/kg. This is an important milestone marking the strong development of Vietnamese agricultural products in the EU market.
The market space for vegetables and fruits in general and exported fruits in particular is very large. However, to achieve the set goals and compete for sustainable exports, Vietnamese fruit and vegetable products must further improve their quality. Along with building and managing good growing areas, timely updating of technical requirements from importers will help our agricultural products penetrate large markets.
Industry experts say that as Vietnam integrates more deeply, markets have increasingly higher requirements for phytosanitary measures (SPS). In the context of limited capacity of Vietnamese farmers, cooperatives and enterprises in meeting SPS requirements, technical support, information sharing, application of digital technology in management and early warning of technical barriers will help farmers and enterprises proactively respond and meet export market standards.
Talking to reporters of Cong Thuong Newspaper, Mr. Ngo Xuan Nam, Deputy Director of the Vietnam SPS Office (Ministry of Agriculture and Environment) said that in order for agricultural products to be successfully exported to demanding markets, transparency and close coordination of SPS measures are prerequisites. Meeting SPS regulations is a "passport" that helps Vietnamese agricultural trade affirm its position in the international market.
"We cannot wait until the goods arrive at the border gate to talk about inspection. All SPS standards must start from the stages of planting, caring, preliminary processing, packaging... right at the local level", Mr. Nam said.
In the context of fruit and vegetable exports facing many difficulties as countries increase inspection of imported goods, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tung said that no market is easy-going, so suppliers must change their production mindset, meet strict standards from partners, shift to developing green production, sustainable production, closely linking farmers, cooperatives, cooperatives and enterprises to organize production to meet standards at each link in the supply chain. In the long term, the fruit and vegetable industry needs to increase investment in deep processing to increase the added value of export products.

Source: Vitic/ congthuong.vn