Vietnam dragonfruit

Vietnam has generated record revenues from its fresh fruit and vegetable exports so far this year thanks to supply shortages elsewhere in Asia, reports Vietnamnews (VNS).

The country's produce export revenues for the first 10 months of 2011 reached US$515m – a 40.6 per cent rise over the same period last year, according to Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

Officials claimed that natural disasters abroad, specifically the devastating flooding in Thailand, had cut market supplies of certain products in Asia, pushed up prices and strengthened demand for Vietnamese offer.

'Export revenues have increased month by month,' one MoIT official told VNS, adding that this is the first year Vietnam's fruit and vegetable industry have achieved such results.

The ministry added that Vietnamese fruit exports to the European Union and the US are unaffected by the regions' weak economies, and that volumes to these markets would remain stable until the end of the year.

Demand for tropical fruit in the US in particular is on the rise as consumers there develop a taste for the exotic, the MoIT said.

Officials added that considerable improvements in Vietnam's produce quality, thanks to government support, have also helped drive up the country's export volumes and revenues.

'The government has supported farmers in applying new technologies for purposes of developing more competitive products,' one official told the publication.