Fruit and vegetables have become Vietnam's third largest hard-currency earner after coffee and cashews, reports vnexpress.net.
Vietnam’s fruit and vegetable exports have jumped to US$1.68bn so far this year, up 28 per cent from the same period last year, customs statistics show.
China is the biggest buyer of Vietnamese fruit and vegetables, but other major importers include the US, Canada and South Korea, according to the General Department of Customs.
Vietnam is still a relatively minor player on the international export stage, the eighth largest fruit exporter in Asia. ButVietnam’s fruit and vegetables exports grew rapidly to US$1.85bn last year from US$900m in 2013 and just US$622m in 2011, according to the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetables Association.
Industry experts forecast that Vietnam is set to earn up to US$2.5bn from exporting fruit and vegetables this year, up 35 per cent from last year.
The government is targeting a ten-fold increase over the coming years, with crops like longan, dragonfruit and lychees being given priority, vnexpress.net said.
Statistics show Vietnam exported more than 1m tonnes of dragonfruit last year. And so far this year, Vietnam has exported more than 10 tonnes of lychees to new market Australia.
Vietnam shipped its first consignments of lychees to Australia and the US in 2015.
More notably, as of mid-September, Vietnam’s exports of fruit and vegetables grew faster than other traditional agricultural commodities, like rice.
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