Vietnam to boost fruit, vegetable exports to China

Vietnam will take concrete measures to boost fruit and vegetable exports to China.

The country will establish fruit and vegetable wholesale markets in the areas near the border with China, and upgrade freezing facilities to better preserve the products for export, local newspaper Vietnam Agriculture on Tuesday quoted Vietnamese Trade Minister Truong Dinh Tuyen as saying.

The ministry will ask trade departments to make reports on the numbers of enterprises and business households which frequently export large volumes of fruits and vegetables to China, aiming to turn them into big exporters.

It will also direct the Vietnamese trade section to coordinate with relevant agencies to promote fruit and vegetable exports in large volumes via official channels, and provide local exporters with update market information.

Vietnamese fruits are experiencing fiercer competition with Thai ones in the Chinese market. As many as 188 fruit and vegetable items of Thailand have enjoyed zero tariffs since October 1, 2003 under an agreement signed on 18 June by China and Thailand.

Now, some 45 percent of Vietnamese fruit exports, mostly longans, mangoes, dragon fruits, coconuts, bananas and watermelons, go to China. The percentage was up to 80 percent prior to mid-2003.

Vietnam earned 63 million US dollars from exporting fruits and vegetables to the world market in the first five months of this year, a year-on-year decline of 12.6 percent, according to the country's General Statistics Office.

The country, which shipped abroad the products worth 152 million dollars last year, targets export turnovers of 350 million dollars in 2005, and 1.1 billion dollars in 2010.

Source: Xinhua