Vietnamese people have favored agricultural products imported from the US, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan

Vietnamese people have favored agricultural products imported from the US, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan despite their extremely high prices.

While answering the phone and recording orders for customers, trader Ngo Thi Hong Oanh in Le Quang Dinh Street in Ho Chi Minh City’s Binh Thanh District said that imported cherries, apples, and plums from the US, Italy, and New Zealand have all been sold very well. Though the prices of foreign-grown fruits are high, a lot of customers still buy them. Not only do Ho Chi Minh City dwellers prefer imported fruits, but people in all corners of the country also love eating them as she received many orders of 300-400kg of fruits to other provinces every week, said Ms. Oanh.

Meanwhile, trader Nguyen Van Trieu in Quang Trung Street in Go Vap District, said that many imported products such as Japanese beef, sturgeon eggs, scallops, and Australian abalone been well consumed. Moreover, purchasing power in the past 2 months has increased by 10 percent-30 percent compared to previous months.

According to Mr. Vo Tan Thanh, Chairman of Nam An supermarket, Vietnamese consumers have been fancying imported agricultural produce especially fruits which are sold in a short time.

Statistics from the Plant Protection Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development show that Vietnam's fruit and vegetable imports in 2022 are estimated at over US$2 billion, up 35 percent compared to 2021.

Particularly from the beginning of the year to June 15, more than 22 million tons of agricultural products imported from countries were quarantined by responsible agencies. Of 22 tons, more than 600,000 tons are fruits of various kinds. Specifically, the Southeast Asian country is ranked 7th among the importing countries of agricultural, forestry and fishery products from Australia.

Over the past time, Australia has exported a lot of fresh fruits such as grapes, peaches, oranges, tangerines and apples to Vietnam. According to the Australian Embassy in Vietnam, in 2022, the country earned more than AUD110 million (US$74 million) from selling fruits to Vietnam. In addition, Australia also conducts trade promotion programs associated with major food and beverage events in Vietnam, such as the Food and Hotel Vietnam event.

Every year, the Australian Government sponsors the ‘Taste of Australia’ program to showcase their world-class dishes and drinks and conduct many promotions at MM Mega Market, An Nam Gourmet and WinMart supermarket chains.

According to the report of the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development, which has just been released in June, Vietnam spent about US$5.8 million in the first 5 months of the year to import vegetables and fruits from Europe, up 98.6 percent compared to May 2022 and US$1.7 million higher than the monthly average of 2022. Surprisingly, foreign potatoes are the favorite of Vietnamese people who spent US$1.7 million buying it while they spent US$0.34 million buying cherries, 44.5 times higher than in May 2022.

Recently, the New Zealand Embassy in Vietnam had a promotion session for this country's fruits at Vincom Center Landmark 81 in HCMC which many large retailers and businesses in Ho Chi Minh City attended. Representatives of supermarket systems such as Aeon Mall, and Central Retail admitted that imported agricultural products are selling well in the country as more and more Vietnamese consumers are taking heed of their health condition and nutrition especially young families paying more attention to organic food for their children.

According to the New Zealand Embassy in Vietnam, the country is officially importing apples, kiwis, cherries, blueberries, persimmons, and apricots. Although there are no detailed statistics, the reality shows that imported fruits from New Zealand are popular and gradually increasing in recent times. Currently, importing companies are also continuously applying for permits to import new products from the country.

Similarly, the American Fruit Association in Vietnam announced Vietnam is the third-largest import market for apples and grapes from the US. According to many agribusiness enterprises, Vietnamese people could buy foreign fruit products from large supermarkets a few years ago, they can now take their favorite fruits at shops, traditional markets, and small supermarkets.

Vietnam not only imports agricultural produce from markets such as Australia, New Zealand, the US but also buys a lot of fruits from Japan such as Mikan tangerine, Peony grape - a purple-skinned, table and rosé wine grape variety, Sunmo Citrus, Momo peach, Ruby mango and South Korea such as Korean grape shine muscat, pear melon, brown pear, honey tomato.

According to agricultural experts, over the past time, several Vietnamese agricultural products have gradually entered international markets, but middle and high-class agricultural products from other countries have also poured into Vietnam through regular and continuous promotion and cooperation programs.

In this regard, Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen, Secretary General of the Vietnam Fruit Association (Vinafruit) said that Vietnamese agricultural products need to improve their quality and packaging design to satisfy customers' tastes in a bid to compete with imported goods and win the domestic market.