Fruit, vegetable exports to China lose growth momentum in Q1

CAN THO – Vietnam’s turnover from fruit and vegetable exports to the Chinese market reportedly lost its growth momentum in the first quarter of this year, falling for the first time after many years of continuous growth.

A customer inspects vegetables at a supermarket. Vietnam’s exports of fruits and vegetables to China dropped in the first quarter of 2019 after years of strong growth – PHOTO: TRUNG CHANH

Vietnam exported over US$680 million worth of fruit and vegetables to China in the first quarter of the year, down over 6% year-on-year.

Data from the General Department of Vietnam Customs shows that Vietnam’s total export revenue for produce in the given period reached almost US$950 million, dropping by 2.2% against the figure seen in 2018.

The fall was attributed to China’s more stringent requirements on unofficial fruit and vegetable imports, including cross-border trade activities.

Chinese customs officers earlier announced that they would not conduct customs procedures for Vietnamese green-skin grapefruit as the fruit has yet to be approved to officially enter China, according to Doan Hoai Phuong from Huong Mien Tay Company, a grapefruit supplier and exporter in Ben Tre Province.

Nguyen Dinh Tung, general director of Vina T&T Group, said that it was reasonable for China to demand only official imports and refuse products shipped through unofficial channels in order to tighten control over pesticide residues, product quality and farming locations.

However, this shift has seriously affected Vietnam’s exports of fruits and vegetables to the neighboring source market.

As a result, the Agro Processing and Market Development Authority, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, is set to hit only a 1% year-on-year increase for local exports of these products this year.

According to Luong Ngoc Trung Lap, former head of the market research department of the Southern Fruit Research Institute and head of the sales department of Tien Giang-based Cat Tuong Agricultural Processing and Production Co., Ltd, Vietnam has to work with China to remove existing obstacles to the official export of local farm produce to China.

A report from the agriculture ministry indicates that China remains one of the largest buyers of Vietnamese fruits and vegetables.

Last year, China spent more than US$2.7 billion importing fruit and vegetables from Vietnam, rising some 5% versus expenditure in 2017.

The local fruit and vegetable sector also saw a double-digit increase in revenue for exports to the Chinese market during the 2011-2016 period.