Vietnamese dragon fruit finds a foothold in India

Dragon fruit has been exported to the Indian market, but in order to have a sustainable foothold, to avoid the same pitfalls as with China, there is still much work to be done.

According to estimates by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, about 300,000 tons of dragon fruit in the provinces of Binh Thuan, Long An, Tien Giang... need to find a consumption market in the first quarter of this year, after China closes the border. making it difficult for hundreds of thousands of tons of these goods.

India is not a new market when there have been businesses exporting this product to over the years. But according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the proportion of dragon fruit exports to India is still below potential.

"India is an attractive market for dragon fruit exporters," commented Mr. Nguyen Quoc Duan, General Director of Song Nam Company at the online conference promoting dragon fruit export recently held by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. .

The "plus points" of the Indian export market, such as the large market capacity with a population of nearly 1.4 billion people, the majority of Indians have the habit of eating with fruit and they like Vietnamese dragon fruit. Nam because of the aromatic taste, beneficial to health...

Growers in Binh Thuan harvest dragon fruit. Photo: Viet Quoc

According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Trade of India, the market share of Vietnamese dragon fruit exports to this country accounted for about 52% in 2018-2019 and increased to nearly 90% in the last 7 months. The amount of exports to India increased, but only about 1% of the export volume of this fruit to the Chinese market. The room for dragon fruit to expand the market in this country of 1.4 billion people is still very large.

On the contrary, there are also risks from this potential market. Mr. Do Quoc Hung, Deputy Director General of the Asia and Africa Market Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade), said that one of the barriers is geographical distance, so India's access to market information, export policies, and epidemic prevention is very difficult. Degree... is still limited. This is also a market that often introduces new and sudden policies, causing difficulties for businesses if they are not updated in a timely manner.

In addition, recently, India has started growing dragon fruit in some states, with an area of 3,000-4,000 hectares, with an output of about 12,000 tons a year, in order to ensure domestic consumption.

From the experience of bringing dragon fruits into India, General Director Song Nam noted that the purchase and sale must ensure payment in advance and the exporting enterprise should not let foreign merchants decide the brand of their goods as well as the goods. let them make their own prices at home, like with China.

Mr. Duan proposed to establish a branch of enterprises exporting dragon fruits to India to share information and help each other when exporting to this market.

Mr. Do Thanh Hai, Counselor of the Embassy of Vietnam in India, also agreed, saying that it is advisable to establish a dragon fruit export association in India to have a methodical and sustainable marketing strategy in this market, avoiding a single way of doing it in the style of "eating out at the moment".

He estimated that each Indian only needs to spend 1 USD to eat fruit, this is too big a market for Vietnamese dragon fruit. Therefore, localities and businesses need to have a long-term and sustainable strategy when exporting dragon fruits to the Indian market.

Exporting businesses need to pay due attention to the Indian market, to invest time, effort and finance in promotion and advertising... so that dragon fruit can reach the majority of Indians.

In addition, associations and businesses should build a reasonable price in this market, not compete with each other...

"How can when it comes to Vietnamese dragon fruit in India, the people of this country immediately think of it as the quintessence of Vietnam and this valuable product must sell at a high price," Hai advised.

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