Agricultural exports to China posted impressive growth between January and May, with shipments of some produce even matching or surpassing the corresponding figures for the entire 2020, data of the Plant Protection Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development showed.
A worker handles lychees for export at a factory in Thanh Xa commune of Thanh Ha district, Hai Duong province (Photo: VNA) – Agricultural
exports to China posted impressive growth between January and May, with
shipments of some produce even matching or surpassing the corresponding figures
for the entire 2020, data of the Plant Protection Department under the Ministry
of Agriculture and Rural Development showed.
During the period, Vietnam
shipped over 468,000 tonnes of mango to China, equivalent to 112 percent of
last year’s figure; 348,000 tonnes of banana, 87 percent; 301,000 tonnes of
jackfruit, 92 percent; and 1.1 million tonnes of dragon fruit, 63 percent.
The Nong nghiep Viet Nam (Agriculture
of Vietnam) newspaper cited Hoang Trung, Director of the Plant Protection
Department, as saying that China has long been the main importer of Vietnamese
farm produce, and although Vietnam is working hard to diversify export markets,
this could not be done overnight.
Given this, China will remain
the largest buyer of Vietnamese agro-forestry-fishery products in the time to
come, he noted.
As China has set increasingly
strict standards for agricultural imports from other countries, since 2018, the
Plant Protection Department has coordinated with localities, businesses, and
cooperatives nationwide to meet the importer’s requirements.
Within three years, Vietnam
granted 3,400 production unit codes for many products to serve different export
markets. In particular, 1,703 production unit codes were given to farming areas
and 1,776 others for packaging facilities in order to meet requirements for
exports to the Chinese market, Trung said.
The country has been
maintaining smooth exports of several key fruits via official channels to China
such as mango, banana, dragon fruit, longan, lychee, jackfruit, and water melon.
The two sides have reached
consensus on plant quarantine solutions for sweet potato and durian while
pomelo, passion fruit, and coconut are among those awaiting negotiations, the
official added.
Regarding the competition
from Thai and Cambodian rivals in the Chinese market, which is normal in an
open economy, Trung said it will encourage businesses and farmers to cooperate
with one another more strongly and professionally so as to improve product
quality, reduce production cost, and boost the competitiveness of Vietnamese
goods in the global market./.