HCM City (VNS/VNA) - Vietnamese fruit and vegetable exporters needto further enhance deep processing and diversify their export markets to avoidrisks when major export markets face difficulties, the Asia-Africa MarketDepartment said.

Do Quoc Hung, the department’s deputy director general, said Vietnam’s fruitand vegetable exports were worth 3.5 billion USD last year, accounting for lessthan 1.4% of the world’s total fruit import revenue.

“We export to more than 60 markets but mainly focus on a number of largemarkets such as China, EU and Northeast Asia,” he told a press conference in HoChi Minh City last week to introduce HortEx Vietnam 2023, an InternationalExhibition & Conference for Horticultural and Floricultural Production andProcessing Technology.

With China tightening inspection under its Zero COVID policy, Vietnam’s fruitexports to that market had reduced to account for 56% of total exports in thefirst eight months of the year compared to 70-80% before COVID-19 broke out, he said.

Businesses had sought to promote exports to other markets but not enough tooffset the drop from the Chinese market, he said.

Dang Phuc Nguyen, general secretary of the Vietnam Fruit Vegetable Association,said Vietnam’s fruit and vegetable exports in the first nine months of the yeardropped by 11% year-on-year to about 2.45 billion USD, with exports to Chinadown by 35%.

In the context of a sharp decline in the country’s largest export market, localfruit and vegetable exporters had promoted exports to markets that the countryhas free trade agreements with and had witnessed a significant increase inexports in these markets, including those that require high standards such asthe US, EU and Japan, he said.

“I think this is a good sign for fruit and vegetable enterprises in particularand domestic agricultural companies in general to further improve productivityand product quality to diversify export markets instead of relying too much ona few large markets,” Nguyen said.

He said HortEx Vietnam 2023, the largest professional exhibition for thehorticultural and floricultural sector, would be a good opportunity for localbusinesses to meet international buyers to seek new export opportunities.

Ingrid Korving, agricultural counsellor at the Netherlands Embassy in Hanoi,said each year, the EU imported about 120 billion USD of horticulturalproducts, accounting for 40% of global imports. Exports from Vietnam to thismarket accounted for roughly 4% of EU needs.

“The Netherlands, being the gateway to Europe, is now the biggest market of Vietnamproducts to EU (for domestic consumption and further export to other Europeancountries). Therefore, we can see, there is a lot of potential for Vietnam inthis market, by upgrading the level of production and processing to meet thedemands and requirements of this market,” she said.

HortEx Vietnam

HortExVietnam will return to HCM City from March 1 to 3, 2023.

The fifth edition of the exhibition is expected to attract 250 exhibitors from30 countries and about 7,000 trade visitors.

The exhibition will also feature many activities such as a series ofspecialised seminars, an export forum, business matching and VIP buyerprogrammes, and others.

According to the organisers, the exhibition aims to create a meeting place forVietnamese and international businesses and experts in the horticulture andfloriculture industry, where suppliers and buyers can meet, exchangeinformation and seek business opportunities.

Held by the Minh Vi Exhibition and Advertisement Services Co., Ltd, and theNetherlands’ Nova Exhibitions B.V., the exhibition will take place at theSaigon Exhibition and Convention Centre./.