Attempts to “turn upstream”

As a product heavily dependent on the Chinese market, Vietnamese vegetables and fruits were hard hit by the country’s “zero Covid” policy for most of 2022.

Even in the first month of 2022, fruit and vegetable exports grew negatively, reaching only USD 291 million, down 5.9% from January 2021. In the following months, the decline in fruit and vegetable exports not only did not improve, but became increasingly difficult. By the end of the first quarter, the export of vegetables and fruits reached only 845 million, down 12.4% compared to the same period in 2021, and in the first 6 months of the year, the export of this item went with turnover down 17.3% from $1.7 billion.

It was only in July 2022 that fruit and vegetable exports started to prosper again. Growth, while still negative, has improved significantly from the previous month. Concretely, if in June 2022 the export of vegetables and fruit decreased by 18.9% compared to June 2021, in July 2022 it decreased by only 5.7% compared to July 2021.

From then until the end of 2022, fruit and vegetable exports have recovered positively. In August 2022, the export of this item recorded positive growth for the first time since the beginning of the year, when it rose to 19.7% compared to the same period in 2021. In the months that followed, the export of this article rose steadily and positively. . As a result, fruit and vegetable exports still had time to surpass the $3 billion mark by the end of 2023, when they hit $3,365 billion, down just 5.1% from 2021.

While failing to “reverse the flow” to switch from negative growth to positive growth, reducing negative growth from 17.3% in the first half to negative 5.1% at the end of the year is also a major collective effort Fruit and vegetable industry last year, especially as part of China’s “zero Covid” policy, which will last until the end of the year, for the first time in the history of Vietnamese fruit and vegetable exports, the Chinese market accounts for less than 50% of the total export value.

Despite a very sharp decline in the Chinese market, strong growth of Vietnamese fruit and vegetables was recorded in many other markets such as the United States (up 14.4% in 11 months of 2022), South Korea (up 14.4% in 11 months of 2022), South Korea (up 14.4% in the first 11 months of 2022), Korea (up 14.4% in the first 11 months of 2022), up 14.1%), Thailand ( up 19.7%), Japan (up 7.3%), Taiwan (up 12.9%), Netherlands (up 47.2%), Australia (up 5.5 percent…

Notably, among the top 10 Vietnamese fruit and vegetable markets in 2022, only two negative growth markets are China and Hong Kong, both of which are affected by the control policy to strictly prevent the Covid-19 epidemic. Thus, it can be seen that global demand for vegetables and fruits is still increasing and if not affected by China’s “Zero Covid” policy (reduce exports of vegetables and fruits to China to 21.7% in 11 months of 2022) . , surely the fruit and vegetable industry has had a successful export year in 2022 and can fully achieve the target of USD 3.8 billion.

Good news from the market opening

Despite the negative export growth, in 2022 the fruit and vegetable industry still gets a lot of good news from the opening of the market to more types of key crops.

In particular, the most important information is that China officially opens the door to Vietnamese durian. Because immediately after the official export to China, Vietnam’s durian exports to this country have surged, bringing durian to 294 million, up 91.5% from the same period in 2021.

Also last year, China officially opened the door for Vietnamese sweet potatoes, Vietnamese pomelos were licensed for export to the United States, Japan opened the door for Vietnamese longans and green lemons for export to New Zealand… These are favorable conditions for the fruit and boost Vietnam’s vegetable exports in the coming years. Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen, Secretary-General of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, predicted that the export of vegetables and fruits will grow strongly in 2023, especially in the Chinese market.