Enthusiastically shifting dragon fruit to the official export quota

In addition to consolidating and expanding traditional export markets, Binh Thuan province will strengthen trade promotion to open new markets.

Binh Thuan People's Committee assessed that safe dragon fruit production according to GlobalGAP and VietGAP standards is developing slowly, full of formality, and has not yet practical. Photo: KS.

Incommensurate to the full potential

Dragon fruit is classified in the group of 12 key fruit trees, also one of Vietnam’s 9 specialty crops with competitive advantages in the world market.

Blessed with suitable climate and soil, Binh Thuan province is considered Vietnam’s dragon fruit “capital” with an area of up to 33,750 ha, of which 11,936 ha are VietGAP certified, 517 ha are GlobalGAP certified, and the total average output is about 650,000 tons/year.

However, Binh Thuan People's Committee assessed that safe dragon fruit production according to GlobalGAP and VietGAP standards is developing slowly, full of formality, and has not yet practical. Since the market for safe dragon fruit products has not yet been stable, the purchasing price of VietGAP and out-VietGAP dragon fruits has not created a difference strong enough to encourage farmers to develop safe dragon fruit.

The purchase of dragon fruit is mainly through traders, and the producer cannot decide the price. The dragon fruit processing industry is still small, fragmented, of low quality, and has not effectively supported the consumption of fresh dragon fruit, especially during the main crop harvest period.

Regarding the dragon fruit consumption market, Mr. Bien Tan Tai, Deputy Director of Binh Thuan Department of Industry and Trade, said that Binh Thuan dragon fruit is mainly consumed in the market in the form of fresh fruit and a few are processed such as dried dragon fruit, dragon fruit wine... The proportion of dragon fruit consumption in the domestic market currently accounts for only 15%, not yet reaching the set target of 22 - 25%.

As for the export market, Binh Thuan dragon fruit has been enlisted on the official export quota of traditional markets such as China, Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia... but there are still difficulties, annual output and export turnover only increased at a slow rate.

Increase official export quota to USD 50 - 60 million/year

Facing this situation, Mr. Nguyen Van Phong, Vice Chairman of Binh Thuan People's Committee has signed and promulgated a plan to develop and expand the domestic and global consumer market for Binh Thuan dragon fruit products in the 2021-2025 period.

The province will promote dragon fruit exports to other countries’ markets, but at the same time focus on consolidating and expanding the existing traditional export market.

Binh Thuan will strengthen trade promotion to support businesses to penetrate, open new and potential markets to consume products, striving to 2025 with dragon fruit’s official export turnover reaching USD 50-60 million/year, gradually raising the domestic consumption rate to 22-25%. In particular, the province will concentrate more on the markets from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Middle East countries and countries that have signed FTA with Vietnam.

Along with the mentioned solutions, Binh Thuan province will further promote the production and trading of clean dragon fruit, organic production, and application of high technology according to VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards to ensure the quality of goods supplied for domestic consumption and export.

Building a cooperation link chain in the production and consumption of dragon fruit for sustainable development is also recommended. The province will encourage and support the development of the processing industry to increase the value of Binh Thuan dragon fruit, create products with high added value, export products of high competitive advantages, having the ability to penetrate and participate in domestic and regional value chains to create a stable market share.