Vietnam-US agricultural cooperation still has much room for development
Vietnam's agricultural, forestry and fisheries exports are maintaining positive growth momentum, with the United States continuing to be one of important markets. According to Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, agricultural, forestry and fisheries exports in the first five months of 2026 reached US$30.69 billion, an increase of 9.2% compared to the same period last year. Previously, in the first five months of 2025, total export value of agricultural, forestry and fisheries products reached US$28.04 billion, an increase of 15.1% compared to the same period in 2024, with the US market accounting for 18.5% of market share.
Conversely, Vietnam is also becoming an increasingly attractive market for US agricultural products. In 2025, US export of consumer agricultural products to Vietnam are projected to reach a record high of $1.2 billion, reflecting expanding trend of agricultural trade cooperation between two countries.
Assessing potential for cooperation between two countries, in an interview with a reporter from Industry and Trade Newspaper on sidelines of launch event of "US Agricultural Products - Superior Quality" campaign organized by MM Mega Market Vietnam on afternoon of July 9th, Mr. Ralph Bean, Agricultural Counselor at the US Embassy in Hanoi, stated that agricultural relationship between Vietnam and the United States is a multifaceted one, not limited to trade but extending to many other areas of cooperation.
According to Mr. Ralph Bean, two agricultural sectors are highly complementary. The United States provides Vietnam with many products in which domestic agricultural sector lacks a competitive advantage, such as livestock breeds, animal feed ingredients and many other agricultural products. Meanwhile, Vietnam possesses unique tropical products such as coffee and many other agricultural products that the United States does not have.
Besides trade, the United States is also implementing many programs to support its Vietnamese partners in agricultural development, including capacity building, risk management and supply chain management.
Mr. Ralph Bean stated: "Potential for agricultural cooperation between the two countries is enormous and both sides have many opportunities for further collaboration". Sharing his views on solutions to increase Vietnam's agricultural exports to the United States, Mr. Ralph Bean believes that the first important step is to continue building on foundations that Vietnam has already established.
Accordingly, supply chain plays a particularly important role for agricultural products. Food preservation, especially for agricultural products, determines product quality when it reaches consumers in distant markets. In fact, Vietnam has already supplied many high-quality agricultural products to the international market. This demonstrates that capacity of Vietnamese businesses in organizing supply chains has improved significantly. It is essential to continue maintaining and enhancing this capacity so that products reaching foreign consumers still maintain quality.
In addition, Vietnam also has a great advantage in food processing sector. Vietnam possesses good processing capabilities for many imported agricultural raw materials as well as domestic agricultural products. This is the foundation for developing high value-added products. Therefore, the counselor recommended that Vietnam should focus more on processed products to increase the value of goods. High value-added products not only have more opportunities to export to international markets but also better serve domestic consumption needs.
Retail chains and trade promotion are the bridge to bring agricultural products to the market.
According to Mr. Ralph Bean, role of retail systems is indispensable for agricultural products to effectively reach consumers. Therefore, retail chains like MM Mega Market and many supermarket and convenience store systems in Vietnam are playing a very important role in bringing high-quality agricultural products to consumers.
For example, with American cherries, maintaining freshness and quality of the produce from US farms to Vietnam requires a very strict transportation and preservation process. Retailers are entities that ensure a continuous cold chain supply, helping to maintain product quality throughout the transportation process. Conversely, retail channels in the importing country can also become a bridge to bring Vietnamese goods to the world.
Simultaneously, the United States is also implementing many programs to support Vietnam in improving its cold chain supply management capacity, helping producers and retailers gain more knowledge to ensure the quality of agricultural products when they reach consumers.
From perspective of a distribution business, Mr. Nguyen Duc Toan, CEO of MM Mega Market Vietnam, affirmed that the retail system wishes to play a role as a bridge to promote agricultural trade cooperation between the two countries.
As part of its trade promotion activities, MM Mega Market Vietnam, in collaboration with the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), organized opening ceremony of event celebrating the greatness of American agriculture. Program took place from July 9th to 22nd, 2026, at 11 MM Mega Market distribution centers nationwide, aiming to introduce high-quality U.S. agricultural products and food to Vietnamese consumers, while also contributing to promoting agricultural trade cooperation between the two countries.
According to Mr. Ralph Bean, the U.S. has recently been granted permission by Vietnam to introduce additional fruits such as tangerines, peaches, and nectarines into the Vietnamese market. Conversely, the U.S. has also opened its market to Vietnamese pomelos and expects to expand to include more products in the future.
These signals indicate that agricultural cooperation between Vietnam and the U.S. is continuing to expand in a mutually beneficial direction. With a strong export growth foundation, coupled with advantages in supply chains, processing capabilities, and the support of distribution businesses, Vietnamese agricultural products still have significant potential to increase their presence in the US market in the future. The key is to continue maintaining quality, enhancing added value, and effectively promoting trade to better exploit the potential of one of Vietnam's largest agricultural export markets.

Source: Vitic/ congthuong.vn