HCM City (VNS/VNA) - With agrowing middle class and high GDP growth, Vietnam has become an idealmarket for foreign fruit exporters, experts have said.

In the last five years, foreign fruitexporters, especially those from the US, Japan, Australia and Canada, have beenlooking for import partners in Vietnam. 

Last year, Vietnam spent 1.77 billion USD  importing fruits and vegetables, and the figure is expected to rise.

Prior to the Tet (LunarNew Year) holiday, Sunkist-brand oranges from the US were being soldat the Korean E-mart supermarket and the Thu Duc agriculture wholesalemarket in HCM City. The oranges are expected to be sold at VinMart soon. 

According to Sunkist Growers,Inc., a not-for-profit organisation in the US, the oranges haverecently been approved for export to Vietnam.

The US also exports apples, grapes,cherries, pears and blueberries to Vietnam. 

Benjamin Petlock, an agricultural consultantat the US Department of Agriculture, said the US was able to export theoranges to Vietnam after many years of effort.

Australia has also exported a large amount offruits to Vietnam in recent years. 

Last year, Australian wine growers made twotrips to the country to find ways to boost export of fruits, especiallyseasonal grapes.

In addition, exports from Asia, including theRepublic of Korean (RoK) and Japanese fruits such as strawberries, greengrapes and others are also available in Vietnam.

A representative of the Koreansupermarket chain K-Mart in Vietnam said the Vietnam-Korea Free TradeAgreement (KVFTA) has been in effect for four years, boosting Koreanseasonal fruit exports to Vietnam.

Fresh Korean agricultural products aretransported by air to Vietnam. The main exports are from the RoK’sGimcheon, Gyeonggi-do and Gyeongnam provinces, which are the mostdeveloped agricultural areas in the RoK.

Potential market

With its 17 free trade agreements (FTAs), ofwhich 13 are already active, Vietnam's population of 97 million makes ita market of high potential. And, with import tax rates of goods frommarkets with FTA dropping sharply, agricultural products and foodstuff exportscan enter Vietnam more easily.

Jeff Scott, director of Australian TableGrape Association, Inc., said new varieties were coming into productionfor export this year, such as Sweet Surrender, Ivory Seedless, SweetNectar, Magenta, Sweet Globe, Sweet Celebration, Luisco seedless, and others. 

Thompson seedless and Crimson seedless grapesare still expected to be Australia’s main export varieties, he said. 

“Looking at this year’s crop forecast, themain table grape variety exported to Vietnam from previous years, Thompson andCrimson seedless, will see increased production volumes of 7.4 percent and 6.6 percent,respectively.” 

Total Australian exports over the last yearincreased 33 percent, while exports to Vietnam grew 81 percent.

“We are confident that the forecast formain varieties exported to Vietnam will increase substantially in the next 10years,” he said. “Vietnam is also the fourth largest import market forfresh grapes from Australia.” 

Statistics from the US Department ofAgriculture showed that US fresh fruit exports to Vietnam reached 97 millionUSD in the first 10 months of last year, up 46 percent over the same period in2018. Vietnam is the US’s ninth largest fruit importer.

Thailand is Vietnam’s largest import market,accounting for more than 43 percent of the total value, followed by China with23 percent, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

With increasing disposable income andconcerns about food safety, Vietnamese consumers are willing to pay more forimported food products, which they view as having higher quality andsafety standards, experts said.

The high growth of modern retail outlets withimproved infrastructure, such as cold chains, helps maintain the quality ofimported products and gives consumers access to well-preserved products./.