Hanoi (VNA) – The Republic of Korea isnow the fourth biggest importer of Vietnamese fruits and vegetables.

Statistics from the Korea International TradeAssociation showed that the RoK imported 264,500 tonnes of fruits andvegetables worth 543.2 million USD in the first three months of this year.

The figures represented a year-on-year increaseof 3.6 percent in value, but down 3.6 percent in volume.

The RoK increased imports of these products fromsome markets like Peru, China and Vietnam. However, imports from Vietnam madeup a mere 1.7 percent of the RoK’s total import turnover.

Therefore, there is still a large room forVietnamese businesses to promote fruit-vegetable exports to the Northeast Asiancountry in the coming time.

Notably, the RoK imported over 70 percent offood and agricultural products. The demand for fruits and vegetables isincreasing.

According to the Business Monitor International(BMI) research firm, Korean consumers are increasingly favouring fresh fruitsand vegetables.

The expenditures for fresh fruits and vegetablesaccounted for 12.2 percent and 12.4 percent of the total food consumption in2012, respectively, which are expected to increase to 19.1 percent and 18.4percent by 2022.

Vietnam earned 1.62 billion USD from exporting fruits andvegetables in the first five months of 2018, a year-on-year rise of 16.54percent.

In May alone, the country grossed 303.1 million USD from selling fruits andvegetables abroad, up 10 percent against the same month last year, according toVietnam Customs.

Fruit-vegetable export turnover was the second biggest earner in theagricultural sector, after aquatic products.

Vietnamese fruits and vegetables have been sold across 60 countries andterritories, including four main markets namely China, the US, Japan and theRepublic of Korea.

In January-April, fruit-vegetable exports to most markets registered growthwith China importing nearly 989 million USD worth of products, a year-on-yearincrease of 30.3 percent and 75 percent of fruit-vegetable export turnover.

The US came second with 39 million USD (up 12.3 percent), followed by Japan at36.55 million USD (up 15.9 percent) and the Republic of Korea 34.78 million USD(up 13.28 percent).

With the positive outcomes from 2017 and the first quarter of 2018, Vietnam isexpected to gross 10 billion USD from exporting fruits and vegetables in thenear future.

The country earned a record 3.45 billion USD from fruit and vegetable exportsin 2017, a year-on-year rise of 40.5 percent, much higher than traditionalstaples like rice, crude oil and coffee.-VNA