Vietnam’s fruit, vegetable export rises 15.2 pc

HANOI, Oct 08 (Xinhua): Vietnam reaped over three billion US dollars from exporting fruits and vegetables in the first nine months of this year, up 15.2 per cent year-on-year, with China being the largest importer, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said on Monday.

According to local agriculture and trade experts, favorable weather boosted yields of litchi, longan, dragon fruit, durian and avocado. Export prices of both fruits and vegetables remained stable between January and September.

The country made fruit and veggie export turnovers of more than 3.5 billion dollars in 2017, up over 43.1 per cent against 2016. Its biggest import market was China, which accounted for 75.6 percent of the turnovers, followed by Japan with 3.6 per cent, the United States with 2.9 per cent, South Korea with 2.6 per cent, and the Netherlands with 1.8 percent, the ministry said.

In the first nine months of this year, Vietnam spent more than 1.3 billion dollars importing fruits and vegetables, up 13 per cent year-on-year. In 2017, the country spent nearly 1.6 billion dollars importing fruits and vegetables, up 68 per cent against 2016, said the ministry.