Doors to large markets open for Vietnam’s farm produce

Doors to large markets open for Vietnam’s farm produce

Vietnam has found the “keys” to many large markets in the world and is expected to export high-quality farm produce in upcoming years.

Throwing farm produce away and seeing fruit getting stuck at the border gates because of lack of sales is the nightmare that Vietnamese farmers and exporters have suffered for many years. However, that will end as some big importers have agreed to open their doors to Vietnam’s fruit.

Tuoi Tre newspaper has quoted the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) as saying that the Australian Ministry of Agriculture has approved the import of litchis from Vietnam.

Vietnamese farmers are preparing to harvest their 2015 litchi crops, from the third week of May to mid-July.

Vietnam’s fresh litchis will be allowed to be carried to Australia by air and by sea, where they will receive thorough examination before distribution throughout Australia.

After 12 years of negotiations, Vietnam now can export fresh litchis to Australia.

The US, a difficult-to-please market, has also accepted Vietnam’s fresh litchis since late 2014. Prior to that, 10 tons of litchis sourced from the Luc Ngan district of Bac Giang province left Vietnam for Japan with the protection of CAS (Cell Alive System), Japanese technology for keeping food frozen.

Professor Vo Tong Xuan, a renowned agriculture expert, said the US and Australia’s acceptance of Vietnam’s litchis will bring golden opportunities to export other fruit and ease reliance on China as a large export market.

Vietnam, over many years, has been making every effort to reorganize export markets and adjust the volume of exports to China because of the big disadvantages when doing trade with the market.

It still cannot do much to reach this goal. China remains a big export market for Vietnam’s farm produce because of its large-scale economy and the short distance from Vietnam.

However, Xuan warned that Vietnam needs to follow a well-organized action plan to take full advantage of the opportunities to boost exports to the US and Australia.

Xuan suggested shifting the currently rice cultivating areas in the provinces of Hung Yen and Hai Duong into litchi-growing areas. The current litchi growing area is reportedly too small to provide enough litchis to satisfy demand from the two markets.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), Vietnam hopes it can obtain permission to export mango and star apple to the US, while Australia, besides litchi, may also accept mango and dragon fruit. Meanwhile, Japan is expected to open its market to Vietnam’s mangoes this year.

vietnamnet