Dragonfruit leads fruit exports

Dragonfruit leads fruit exports

Dragonfruit continues to have the highest value of any Vietnamese fruit export, according to industry officials.

Luong Ngoc Trung Lap, head of the Southern Fruit Institute's market research department, said dragonfruit in recent years had achieved the highest export growth among all fruits cultivated in the country.

Last year, the country gained US$107 million from the export of dragonfruit, accounting for 45 per cent of the total fruit export value.

For the first 10 months of this year, dragonfruit exports reached 226 tonnes, up 78 per cent in volume against the same period last year, and valued at US$128 million, an increase of 94 per cent in value.

During this period, exports of dragonfruit to China grew 107 per cent in volume and 176 per cent in value, according to a report in Thoi Bao Kinh Te Viet Nam (Viet Nam Economic Times) newspaper.

Dragonfruit exports to other markets, including South Korea, Japan, Canada and Thailand, have also risen in both volume and value.

The average export price of dragonfruit reached $539 a tonne in the first 10 months of the year, up 6 per cent against the same period last year.

Tran Huu Danh, director of the Long Viet Company, which specialises in exporting dragonfruit, said the volume of exports to several markets were expected to increase even further.

In 2008, dragonfruit was the first Vietnamese fruit allowed to be exported to the US, with the condition that the fruit be radiated prior to shipping.

Beginning in August, the fruit was allowed to be shipped to the US and radiated there before delivery to supermarkets. It was the first Vietnamese fruit export permitted to do so.

All dragonfruit exports to the US must have a code granted by American authorities that indicates its cultivation area in Viet Nam.

The central province of Binh Thuan and the Cuu Long (Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Tien Giang both have codes for their dragonfruit exports.

Long An Province is expected to receive a code from the US in the near future.

Earlier this year, the US Patent and Trademark Office granted a trademark for dragonfruit grown in Binh Thu?n Province.

Binh Thuan, the country's largest dragonfruit producer, has 16,000ha devoted to the fruit, with an annual output of 400,000 tonnes.

Vietnamese-grown dragonfruit is exported to more than 30 countries and territories.

Along with increased exports of fresh dragonfruit, the GAP Agriculture Joint Stock Company has begun to export dried dragonfruit to the US.

The drying technology helps maintain the flavour better than other available drying technologies, according to the company.

The fruit is sliced, frozen and vacuumed-packed before export.

The company also plans to export dried dragonfruit to the EU and Australia in the near future

vietnamnews