The door to US market opens to Vietnams fruits

Vietnam has successfully entered many markets after years of negotiations, including choosy ones such as the US, Chile, Japan, Taiwan and New Zealand, according to Le Van Thiet, deputy director of the Plant Protection Agency. 

Vietnam's fruits are exported to many countries

Dragon fruit, longan, mango, litchi and star apples are now exported to these markets.

As for the US market, Thiet said, after 10 years of negotiations, the country opened its door to Vietnam’s star apples. A report shows that 134 consignments of star apples (230 tons) have been shipped to the US.

“The star apple exports have gone beyond our expectations,” Thiet said, explaining that this was a very encouraging result. But he noted that only several months have elapsed since the day Vietnam’s star apples were accepted to the US.

Under authorization of the US, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has instructed the Plant Protection Agency to grant 18 growing area codes to star apples in the Mekong Delta. Tien Giang province has 16 codes, while Can Tho has two.

The US has also opened its market to Vietnam’s mangoes. It is expected that the ceremony for the first mango export shipment ceremony will be organized in April 2018.

Nguyen Dinh Tung, director of Vina T&T, a fruit exporter, said the demand for star apples in the US is surprisingly high. American consumers are willing to pay $100 for half a kilo of star apples. 

Though optimistic about the US market, exporters have been advised to be cautious when exporting products to the US.

Tung said exporters should learn lessons from the export of litchi to Australia. As the demand soared, Vietnamese enterprises exported litchis in large quantities, selling lower-quality litchis and setting lower prices. 

This led to the assumption that Vietnam’s litchis have low quality and low prices.

Ngo Tuong Vy, deputy director of Chanh Thu Import/Export Company, confirmed that the demand for star apples is very high, but Chanh Thu has had to reject many export contracts.

“If exports are found having problems, such as the fruit fly, the prestige of Vietnam’s fruits will be affected,” she said. “That is why we have halted signing contracts.”

In January 2018, Vietnam exported $321 million worth of vegetables and fruits, an increase of 36.9 percent over the same period last year.

Vietnam’s fruit and vegetable exports reached a record $3.5 billion for year-on-year growth of 43.02 percent, according to MARD.