Dragon fruits for exports

Over the next four years, the IFC will collaborate with the department to expand shipments of international-standard produce such as dragon fruit and passion fruit, which have the fastest growth in high value markets.

Although Vietnam's fruit and vegetable exports tripled from 2013 to 2018, most products are still exported through informal channels at less competitive prices due to incomplete quality standards.

To address this restriction, the two sides will work together to improve the legal framework and public services to open new export markets. They will also endeavour to improve the quality of dragon fruit and passion fruit by updating and implementing plant quarantine and traceability regulations in accordance with international practices and the requirements of importing countries.

When tariffs are no longer a trade barrier thanks to free trade agreements, the implementation of sanitary and phytosanitary requirements is extremely important for Vietnamese agricultural products to penetrate overseas markets, according to Director of the Plant Protection Department Hoang Trung.

Based on cooperation with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Japanese Government and the Korea Green Growth Trust Fund - part of the World Bank Group, the IFC will support Vietnam to implement an online system of requirements, involving exports of dragon fruit and passion fruit by 2022, he added.

Vietnam exported 836 million USD worth of fruit and vegetables in the first quarter of 2020, a year-on-year decline of 10.9 percent, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

China continued to take the lead with over 300 million USD, down 29.4 percent compared to the same period last year. The sharp decline was attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, other markets recorded slight year-on-year growth from January-March, such as Indonesia with 2.1 million USD compared to only 164,800 USD in the same period in 2019, Thailand 35.2 million USD against 7.6 million USD one year ago, Laos 9.6 million USD compared to 2.6 million USD last year, Russia 8.2 million USD against 2.4 million USD in the same period last year, and Cambodia 885,300 USD from 340,000 USD from one year ago./.VNA