Sharing with PV Tien Phong, Mr. Nguyen Lam Vien, General Director of Vinamit Joint Stock Company, said that China is becoming more and more strict in quality control, traceability, packaging, etc. Pursuing the "Zero Covid" policy is making it difficult for many fruit and vegetable exporters to this market. Although Vinamit, with more than 20 years of experience in doing business in the Chinese market, has carefully prepared the planting area, preliminary processing, packaging and processing areas, etc., the strict disease control affects the progress of fulfilling orders of enterprises.

According to Mr. Vien, this difficulty is also the driving force for businesses to diversify and exploit new markets. Currently, the European and American markets have great demand, creating opportunities for businesses to push into these markets.

“Last year, due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, Vinamit had to work with EU partners via phone, email, etc., leading to not much contract negotiation and implementation. The company has only exported to explore the market, but not to a bustling level like exporting to the Chinese market. However, from the beginning of the year until now, the company's orders to this market have also increased rapidly. Up to now, the company has signed a contract to export many processed jackfruit, fruit and vegetable products to the EU and plans to penetrate deeper in the near future," said Mr. Vien.

Many businesses invest in processing plants to export more goods to the European and American markets

Mr. Nguyen Van Thu, General Director of GC Food Joint Stock Company (GC Food) said that the company's output of vegetables and fruits exported to the EU is increasing strongly, in which the amount of processed products has doubled. According to the company, although some traditional markets face difficulties, during the recovery process most markets have great demand for agricultural products.

“We are determined to invest methodically from the raw material area to the processing stage to enter new markets. Currently, the company invests in building a fruit and vegetable freezing factory in Dak Lak province with a total capital of about 100 billion VND. This is an area with many fruit materials such as avocado, mango, durian, etc., which is suitable for the increasing consumption demand in the world market as well as in the country", said Mr. Thu.

As an enterprise with many years of exporting goods to the EU, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tung, General Director of Vina T&T Joint Stock Company, assessed that Vietnamese vegetables and fruits have many opportunities in this market, because Vietnam is the only country in the world. The Asia-Pacific region has a free trade agreement with the EU. In particular, after the Vietnam - EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) took effect, the tax rate of some Vietnamese vegetables and fruits entering the EU was reduced to 0%, creating a huge competitive advantage compared to the EU. countries in the region.

According to Mr. Tung, the EU has very strict standards, but if enterprises can meet them, capturing market share is not too difficult. In the EU, Vina T&T does not face many competitors because the company has full certifications such as Global GAP, HACCP (Food Safety Management System) and SMETA (Certificate of Social Responsibility Standards). Sales negotiations went smoothly. Since the beginning of the year, the company's fruit and vegetable exports to the EU have increased sharply, especially grapefruit, coconut and dragon fruit.

“From the beginning of the year until now, the company's amount of vegetables and fruits exported to the EU has increased sharply, especially products such as pomelo, coconut and dragon fruit. The company is planning to expand more products into EU supermarkets” Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tung , General Director of Vina T&T

What opportunities for the fruit and vegetable industry?

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Binh, Chairman of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, said that Vietnam's fruit and vegetable export market is undergoing a clear shift. For many years, China has always been Vietnam's largest fruit and vegetable export market (accounting for 65-80% of the total turnover of this industry). However, in the first two months of the year, fruit and vegetable exports to China decreased by nearly 19% over the same period last year (only reached $260 million). Meanwhile, vegetable and fruit exports to the US increased by nearly 70% (reaching 46 million USD); Korea increased by nearly 32% (reaching USD 25 million); Japan increased by 12% (reaching 23 million USD)... Along with that, vegetable and fruit exports to Australia increased by 45.7%, the Netherlands increased by 51.5%...

According to Mr. Binh, this is a positive market shift of the fruit and vegetable industry. Especially, this year, the US, EU, Australia, UK, Japan Ban, Canada... are markets that are being evaluated with great potential of the fruit and vegetable industry.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan said that Vietnam's advantage in free trade agreements will help fruit and vegetable exporters to quickly access world markets in the context of a rapidly recovering demand. . Especially, for the EU, this is the largest fruit and vegetable import market in the world, but the amount of vegetables and fruits imported from Vietnam only accounts for a very small amount, less than 1%. In addition, the US has just officially licensed the import of Vietnamese pomelos and in the near future, breast milk and coconuts (after mango, longan, litchi, dragon fruit, rambutan), creating favorable conditions for fruit and vegetable enterprises to expand. export to this market.