#Vietnamese fruit

The update by Australia’s Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry to its Biosecurity Import Conditions system (BICON) on April 10, officially setting out import conditions for Vietnamese pomelos, is regarded as a major milestone in market access efforts.

Vietnam and Australia agreed to remove bottlenecks faced by their businesses amid the post-pandemic economic downturn, and suggested solutions to boost bilateral trade.

PSNews - Since the first batch of Vietnam’s Ri6 durian was officially exported to the UK in early May, TT Meridian Company has regularly imported 3-4 tonnes of this specialty fruit every week, which reflects that it is well received by consumers in this market.

Vietnam’s fruit and vegetable export value hit US$3.5 billion in the first 11 months of 2018, up 11.6% year-on-year, said the Agro Processing and Market Development Authority (AgroTrade) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

Dragon fruits have dominated Vietnamese fruit exports in the first four months of 2018 with total exports reaching US$427 million, a year-on-year increase of 9%.

Despite relatively high export growth, it is not easy for Vietnamese fruits looking to expand to international markets and acquire major market shares, as it can take 5-10 years to negotiate the necessary international business contracts.

Many Vietnamese fruits have hit supermarket shelves in the US, Australia, Japan, and Thailand and are being sold at much higher prices than on the domestic market.

Vietnamese fruit exporters are struggling to stay competitive due to high air freight costs compared to other countries.

Vietnam exported nearly 10,000 tonnes of fresh fruit to choosy markets such as the United States, Canada, the Republic of Korea and Japan in the first 10 months of this year.