Export of agriculture products to China surpasses that of 2020 in just 5 months

In the first five months of 2021, the number of key agriculture products in Vietnam exported to China passed that of 2021 by dozens to 100%.

3,400 area codes have been assigned

Director-General Plant Protection Department (PPD) Hoang Trung said that in 2018, the department actively negotiated and coordinated to build area code to meet the requirements of the General Administration of Customs of China.

In just three years, Vietnam has assigned 3,400 area codes for several products and different markets. In particular, the Chinese market alone has been granted 1,703 planting area codes and 1,776 packing facilities (500-600 times more than Cambodia).

Besides, Vietnam has been maintaining very good official export of 9 key and traditional fruits to the Chinese market, including mango, banana, dragon fruit, longan, lychee, jackfruit, watermelon, rambutan, and mangosteen (and black jelly in 2020).

Data provided by the Plant Protection Department shows that, in the first 5 months of 2021, despite the complexity of the Covid-19 pandemic, Vietnam's agricultural product exports to the Chinese market have achieved a high level and impressive growth.

Specifically, in the first 5 months of the year, Vietnam exported over 468,000 tons of mangoes to China, equal to 112% against the total in 2020; 348,000 tons of bananas, equal to 87% of the whole year of 2020; 301,000 tons of jackfruit, equal to 92% of the whole year of 2020 and 1.1 million tons of dragon fruit, equal to 63% of the whole of 2020.

Competition is the inevitable rule of the market

Responding to the information that Vietnam’s agriculture products were being competed by that of Thailand, Cambodia, and even China's domestic, Trung said that it is very normal a competition in the sector as it is the rule of the market.

Jackfruit is an impressive product of Vietnam exported to the Chinese market recently.

He considered it is a good sign to help businesses and people in the country link together more closely and professionally to improve quality, lower product costs, increase reliability, and boost competitiveness for Vietnamese goods and agricultural products in the international market.

As Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan emphasized in his letter to key officials of the Agriculture sector about the change from agricultural production thinking to the agricultural economy. With the agricultural economy, the market plays a decisive role, every stage in the agricultural production chain must be based on market signals.

Indeed, statistics show that there are fruit products that Vietnam has successfully negotiated with China for many years, but there is no room for export because it was unattractive and uncompetitive, such as rambutan and mangosteen.

In contrast, several traditional products over the past years have retained their manners for exports including mango, dragonfruit, and jackfruit in particular increased by 50%.

Or Vietnam has surpassed the Philippines to become the largest banana supplier to the Chinese market.

Even with durian and sweet potato products, when the Covid-19 pandemic is quelled, Chinese experts can arrive in Vietnam to re-evaluate the last stage of the technical processes of phytosanitary. Vietnamese durian can completely thrive to become a fierce competitor with Thailand and Malaysian durian in the Chinese market, although this item has been officially exported to China by two ASEAN countries for decades.

“To boost the competitiveness of Vietnamese agricultural products, the Department has been implementing synchronously and drastically seven key tasks namely IPM Program, biological drugs, and organic fertilizers, the program to develop the code of the growing area, the facility for packaging, irradiation, hot water treatment, among others. As a result, Vietnamese agricultural products now basically meet the requirements for quality, residue, and price from the most difficult import market," said the Director of Plant Protection Department.