Ministry optimistic about fruit-veggie export prospects Hanoi – With effective cooperation between farmers, businesses and State management agencies, Vietnam is likely to realise its goal of 10 billion USD in fruit-vegetables export turnover by 2020. Dragon fruits for exports (Photo: VNA) The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is devising measures to increase the export turnover of fruits and vegetables to 4 billion USD in 2018 from 3.5 billion USD in 2017. According to Nguyen Quoc Toan, head of the ministry’s agricultural product processing and market development department, Vietnam earned 1.32 billion USD from exporting fruits and vegetables in the first four months of 2018, a year-on-year rise of 29.5 percent This is a good sign reflecting the effective coordination of localities and enterprises, he said. Vietnam has great potential in agriculture with competitive fruits and vegetables.  The export turnover of fruits and vegetables has seen impressive growth in recent years, which topped 1 billion USD in 2015 and 2 billion USD in 2016 and hit 3.5 billion USD in 2017. Seeing fruits and vegetables as a strong product, businesses and farmers have joined hands to make long-term investment. Toan added that Vietnamese fruits and vegetables have been sold in 170 countries and territories. Vietnam has signed nearly 16 bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements, he said, adding that the international economic integration in agriculture has brought both opportunities and challenges for the country. “If we can organise production effectively, the proportion of Vietnamese fruits and vegetables in the global market will increase,” he said. Despite impressive achievements in 2017, up to 70 percent of Vietnamese fruits and vegetables were exported to China, while the ratio to other major markets like the Republic of Korea, Japan, the US and the EU was limited. This was attributed to shortcomings in processing, preservation and logistics infrastructure, Toan said, adding that building material supply areas for processing plants is a headache for State management agencies. He suggested businesses improve quality and invest in fruit and vegetable preservation to reach out further to the global market. VNA