US doubles purchase of Vietnamese mangoes

The U.S. has imported double the quantity of Vietnamese mangoes in Jan-August 2020, showing potential for further growth in this market.

A Vietnamese mango cut into small pieces. Photo by Shutterstock/winni-design.

The value of mango imports rose 99.9 percent year-on-year to $2.79 million, according to a report by the Agency of Foreign Trade under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, citing U.S. official figures.

The average import price was $2,064.8 per tonne, up 6.7 percent year-on-year. Most of the imports were of fresh and frozen fruit.

In terms of volume, Vietnam was the 12th largest mango import market for the U.S. in the said period, accounting for 0.3 percent of the total.

The Agency of Foreign Trade said the large demand for mango, especially fresh fruit, in the U.S. is an opportunity for Vietnamese companies to expand.

However, they need to ensure all strict standards on farming, packaging and origin tracing are met, it added.

Vietnam exported its first batch of mango to the U.S. in April last year.

The surge in Vietnam’s mango exports to the U.S. is a rare bright spot in the nation’s plunging fruits exports scenario, primarily as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the first nine months, fruit export value fell 19.1 percent year-on-year to $1.7 billion, with shipment figures of lychees, durians and bananas plummeting, the agency said.