Fruit and veg exports ripen for Vietnam in January

People shop for fruits at a supermarket in Hanoi. Photo by Reuters.

The country is hoping to reap $3 billion from fruit and vegetable exports in 2017

Fruit and vegetables are expected to be a major foreign currency earner for Vietnam’s agricultural sector this year.

Exports of fruits and vegetables brought in $233 million in January, jumping by 16 percent against the same period last year. This placed the sector only second after coffee, which fetched the country $316 million, according to data from Vietnam Customs.

Last year was a successful year for Vietnamese fruit and vegetables after the group, for the first time, surpassed rice to earn $2.4 billion, up 34 percent against 2015.

Vietnamese fruits have found their way into big markets like the U.S., Japan, Australia and South Korea.

Bui Sy Doanh from the agriculture ministry said that in 2016, more than 10,500 tons of fresh fruit was shipped to the U.S. and Japan, doubling the 2015 figure.

Australia has recently given the green light for dragon fruit imported from Vietnam while Japan is searching for banana traders to meet the demands of the world’s third largest economy, where around one million tons of bananas are consumed each year.

Experts predict that this year, fruit and vegetable exports will bring in $3 billion, up 25 percent against last year.

A growing appetite among foreign consumers for Vietnamese fruit is expected to reduce the country’s reliance on China, which accounted for 70 percent of Vietnam's fruit and vegetable exports in 2016.