The Government Office yesterday released Document No.4679/VPCP-KTTH about the direction of Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai on stabilizing the prices of pork and animal feed, which have increased significantly lately.

The nation has high hopes of developing a modern and sustainable farm produce processing system, thereby transforming the country into one of the world’s top 10 agricultural processing hubs by 2030

Eleven Vietnamese fruits have been allowed to be exported to China through official channels. However, Chinese  consumption decreased during the pandemic, and, as a result, Vietnam’s exports to the market fell by $400 million in H1.

The Government would push for greater mechanization in agricultural production.

After durian - the eleventh fruit of Vietnam - was licensed for official import by China, MARD and MOIT have encouraged official export channels to avoid putting exporters at risk.

American people love to eat pho, so a bowl of pho is three times bigger than usual. In Sweden, people queue up at pho introduction stalls to be served.

Consumption trends in Vietnam and the world have changed. Consumers now want plant-origin, high-quality, multi-use and nutritional farm produce.

The prices of many fruits have increased sharply these days as China, the biggest consumer, has begun increasing imports.

Fruit exports have sharply decreased in number, while imports have soared. Farmers are now finding it difficult to sell products.

Farmers have had a bumper fruit crop this year, but they are unhappy as prices are sliding dramatically.

When Vietnam sells its products to the world, it only has a large output. It forgets to tell the story about the culture, history, and the farming process of the land where the products are born.

“Rescue dragon fruit. Just VND90,000 per box of 20 kilograms.” “Watermelon surprisingly cheap at VND5,000 per kilogram.” These are the sales pitches heard by Phung Thi Tho in Hoang Mai district in Hanoi every day.

New records in export turnover were set by key export items for January, making the annual target of $50 billion worth of farm exports feasible.

Trucks carrying farm produce are still stuck at border gates, causing exports of some vegetables and fruits to fall sharply.

In some European countries, dragonfruit is considered ‘super food’, priced at VND650,000 per kilogram. Vietnam has 1.4 million tons of the fruit each year and farmers sell it at only VND3,000 per kilogram.

While dragonfruit in Vietnam has seen prices plummet, the fruit is being sold for VND200,000 per kilogram in Australian supermarkets and VND600,000 in the Netherlands.

Local agriculture officials are calling for higher contributions from overseas Vietnamese to the domestic economy.

Jackfruit exports to China bring $124 million a year. However, the export/import ‘game’ is controlled by five Vietnamese individual and institutional exporters and three Chinese importers.

As the total annual output of vegetables and fruits is 28 million tons, unofficial-quota exports and domestic consumption alone won’t use up this amount.

Vice Chairwoman of HCMC People’s Committee Phan Thi Thang promised to bring goods from the Mekong Delta into wholesale markets and distribution systems in HCMC to support farmers and cooperatives for connection of supply and demand.