Vietnam’s vegetable exports to Taiwan enjoy sharp increase

The first months of this year saw Vietnamese vegetable exports to Taiwan (China) rise sharply, turning Vietnam into the largest vegetable supplier to this market.
April 23, 2021 | 11:44
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Vietnam’s vegetable exports to Taiwan enjoy sharp increase
Taiwan has increased the import of Vietnamese vegetables during the first months of 2021. Photo: VOV

Taiwan imported 45,180 tonnes of vegetables worth $45.1 million during the initial two months of the year, a year-on-year increase of 37.1% in volume and 37.7% in value, according to the Taiwan Customs Administration.

Of the total, 7,290 tonnes were shipped from Vietnam worth $5.5 million, up 296.4% in volume and 197.8% in value over the same period from 2020, VOV reported.

As a result, Vietnam emerged as the largest supplier of vegetables to Taiwan, making up 16.1% of its total vegetable imports in the reviewed period.

Besides Vietnam, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, and New Zealand were also other four large vegetable suppliers to the Taiwan market in the first two months of 2021.

Vietnam aims $10 bln in fruit, vegetable export value by 2030

Vietnam expects to gain $8-10 billion from shipping fruits and vegetables abroad, with revenue of processed products accounting for at least 30 percent of the total by 2030.

Under a project to develop the fruit and vegetable process sector during 2021-2030 recently approved by the Prime Minister, Vietnam targets to attract investment in 50-60 fruit and vegetable processing establishments, and build several modern groups and enterprises who have the good competitive capacity, according to Vietnamplus.

With a view to achieving the goals, Vietnam will invest heavily to improve processing ability, give priority to processing key fruits and vegetables which have high values, set up material zones, and develop markets for the products.

Vietnam’s vegetable exports to Taiwan enjoy sharp increase
Photo: VOV

The project laid stress on the necessity to build processing and packaging facilities and storage warehouses and install suitable equipment to reduce post-harvest losses.

Besides, it is crucial to attracting investment to ensure that all of the production facilities will be well equipped with necessary machines by 2030.

Along with encouraging businesses to invest in food irradiation centers at large-scale fruit and vegetable farming areas so that their products meet international standards, the country will promote intensive processing and diversify processed products.

Additionally, the country will establish specialized fruit and vegetable cultivating areas that are able to provide some 5-6 million tonnes of high-quality products for processing by 2030.

In 2020, Vietnam earned $3.26 billion from exporting fruit and vegetables, a year-on-year decline of 13 percent, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) reported.

Exports were down because many items with high export value saw volumes fall sharply, such as dragon fruit, which accounts for about 36 percent of total export value but fell nearly 10 percent in volume, bananas (down 13 percent), durian (56 percent), lychee (22 percent), and watermelon (36 percent).

Dang Phuc Nguyen, General Secretary of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association (VINAFRUIT), attributed the result to declining imports from China, saying it imported 25 percent less fruit and vegetables than in 2019.

He noted, however, that exports to other countries still posted stable growth, such as Thailand (140 percent), the US and the Republic of Korea (RoK) (both 11 percent), and Japan (5 percent).

Fruit and vegetable exports were severely influenced by the development of the COVID-19 pandemic around the world, Nguyen said.

According to MARD, Vietnam also spent $1.29 billion on importing fruit and vegetables last year, down 27.5 percent against 2019.

China, the US, and Australia are Vietnam’s largest providers, the ministry said.

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