Illustration photo
According to the preliminary statistics of the General Department of Customs, Vietnam’s fruit and vegetable exports in December reached 408.25 million USD, an increase of 9.5% compared to November 2023. Accumulated throughout 2023, fruit and vegetable exports earned over 5.6 billion USD, a strong increase of 66.7% compared to 2022.
In terms of markets, China is the largest market, accounting for 65% of the country’s total fruit and vegetable export turnover. In 2023, fruit and vegetable exports to the neighboring country reached nearly 3.64 billion USD, a sharp increase of 138.7% compared to the same period in 2022.
Source: General Department of Customs
The US is the second-largest market for Vietnamese fruits and vegetables. In 2023, exports to this market reached over 257 million USD, a 4% increase compared to 2022.
Meanwhile, exports to South Korea reached 225.81 million USD, a 24.9% increase compared to the previous year, and became Vietnam’s third-largest market.
In terms of product structure, the most impressive growth was in the durian sector, with a turnover of over 2 billion USD in 2023, more than 10 times the average of previous years. Meanwhile, from 2021 onwards, durian exports were only about 200 million USD per year. In addition, there were contributions from other important items such as dragon fruit, jackfruit, banana, passion fruit, mango…
For the main Chinese market, this country imports 7 million tons of fresh fruit each year, worth about 10 billion USD. However, currently Vietnamese fruits account for only 7.15% of the market share, compared to 45.02% for Thailand and 16.8% for Chile.
As for the “king” of fruits, durian, China has only a few localities that can grow durian, such as Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Yunnan, with not much output, while the demand for durian is very large. This is a great opportunity for Vietnam to exploit more effectively in 2024.
According to statistics, by the end of 2023, the whole country had over 112,000 hectares of durian. In the past 5 years, the area of durian has increased rapidly, with an average annual increase of nearly 25%, with a total output currently about 900,000 tons, concentrated in some main regions such as: Central Highlands with over 52,000 hectares (about 47%), Mekong Delta with 33,000 hectares (about 30%), South East with 21,000 hectares (about 19%), and other localities.
Vietnamese agricultural products in general and fruits in particular are now present in more than 160 countries and territories. Vietnam has dozens of types of fruits and vegetables exported worldwide, helping the fruit and vegetable export turnover reach 3.34 billion USD in 2022, of which the export surplus is about 1.3 billion USD.
Based on the positive market signals, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development predicts that in 2024, the fruit and vegetable sector will continue to achieve new records, with a growth rate of 15-20% compared to 2023, equivalent to 6.5-7 billion USD if the opportunities are properly exploited…
