According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), the country exported USD284 million worth of fruits and vegetables in March while its imports amounted to USD92 million.
The imports of fruits and vegetable in January-March saw a year-on-year surge of 47.7 percent, which mostly came from Thailand and China.
Vietnamese dragon fruits are sold at a fruit wholesale market in Sydey, Australia. (Photo: VNA)
Farmers in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong and northern provinces suffered a severe crisis as retail prices of vegetables plunged during March. The hardest-hit were radish and kohlrabi, whose price went down to only VND1,000 – VND1,200 per kg due to oversupply.
Onion was fetched at VND3,000 per kg, a 4-fold decrease from the pre-Tet (Vietnam Lunar New Year) holiday time, while prices of carrot and cabbage dropped from VND25,900 and VND11,500 per kg to VND20,900 and 9,500 per kg, respectively.
In 2018, the sector will focus on developing processing facilities for agricultural, forestry and seafood products, particularly vegetables, pork and chicken, serving both domestic and overseas markets, said Tran Van Cong, deputy head of the MARD's Agro Processing and Market Development Authority.
The country’s fruit and vegetable exports reached a record 3.5 billion USD for year-on-year growth of 43.02 percent last year.
The top 10 markets were China (75.6 percent), Japan (3.64 percent), the United States (2.94 percent), the Republic of Korea (2.59 percent), the Netherlands (1.81 percent), Malaysia (1.43 percent), Taiwan (1.33 percent), Thailand (1.03 percent), the United Arab Emirates (1.01 per cent) and Russia (0.85 percent). Other markets accounted for 7.77 percent.
In addition to the traditional markets, Vietnamese fruits also managed to enter tough markets like the United States, the European Union, Japan, Canada, Australia and New Zealand./.