Billions of dollars spent worldwide on Vietnamese fruit
It took Vietnam 12 years to obtain licenses to export lychees to Australia, five years to export Cat Chu mango to Japan and eight years to export dragon fruit to Taiwan (China).
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Vietnam has spent four years to negotiate with the Republic of Korea's management agencies, but its star apple still cannot conquer the quarantine barriers set in the country.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), Vietnam’s fresh fruit now can reach 40 countries and territories. China remains the biggest export market for Vietnam.
Vietnam has exported four types of fruits to the US, namely dragon fruit, rambutan, longan and lychee. By May 2016, the export volume to the market had reached 1,000 tons, double 2015 exports.
State agencies are following procedures to obtain the license to export mango and star apple to the market as well.
Consuming 4% of Vietnam’s total fruit exports, the US surpassed the RoK and Japan to become Vietnam’s second largest importer of fruit in the first quarter of 2016.
As for the Australian market, following the success in exporting lychee to the market, Vietnam was granted the right to export mango to the market.
Taiwan (China) was a large export market for Vietnam 5-8 years ago, when 14,000-16,000 tons of Vietnam’s fruits were shipped to the market each year. But Vietnam’s dragon fruit exports to Taiwan (China) were interrupted after some consignments were found with fruit flies.
However, Taiwan (China) recently resumed the import of dragon fruit from Vietnam, commencing June 1, 2016.
Japan allows Vietnam to export dragon fruit (Hylocereus undatus) to the country. And after five years of negotiations, Vietnam’s Cat Chu mango treated with steam, can now be displayed at large supermarkets in Japan.
About 13 tons of mango had been consumed by the end of 2015 in Japan.
The RoK, with fruit import turnover of US$18.6 million in the first three months of the year, is the third largest export market for Vietnam.
In mid-2014, Vietnam’s dragon fruit officially entered New Zealand. In late 2011, New Zealand allowed fresh mango from Vietnam.
New Zealand is not a large market with five million consumers. However, Vietnam still attaches much importance to the market, because the market can bridge other choosy markets such as Argentina, Chile and Brazil.
However, analysts say, Vietnam still finds it difficult to boost exports, mostly because of high transportation costs.
In order to transport 600 tons of lychees to France, for example, exporters have to pay US$1.77 million for air service.
