Vietnam’s exports of vegetables and fruits reached a new record in the first half of the year, at US$2.7 billion, surging 64 percent year on year, Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien said at a press briefing in Hanoi on Monday.

With this result, the target of over $5 billion this year is attainable, Tien added.

Regarding the potential to increase the figure to $10 billion in the future, Nguyen Nhu Cuong, head of the Department of Crop Production under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said Vietnam holds high potential in vegetable and fruit exports and is in no way inferior to other countries.

The cultivation area tends to fall to serve industry and service development, which may result in a decline in vegetable and fruit output.

However, the $10-billion export value will be completely achievable if the sector comes up with solutions to improve its product value and quality, Cuong added.

It is needed to increase processed vegetable and fruit exports instead of selling raw products. The state should also work out preferential policies for the cultivation sector.

Vietnam’s positive growth in vegetable and fruit exports was thanks to the surging demand in China, according to the Agency of Foreign Trade under the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Vietnam shipped vegetables and fruits worth $1.2 billion to the northern neighbor in the first five months of this year, soaring 80.2 percent over the same period last year and making up 63.5 percent of the country’s total vegetable and fruit exports.

China has increased purchases, while Vietnam has entered the harvest season of these products, leading to the surge in vegetable and fruit shipments.

Besides China, Vietnam recorded a positive growth rate in vegetable and fruit exports to other markets, such as South Korea, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, and Malaysia.

In the first six months of the year, Vietnam exported $24.5 billion worth of agro-forestry-fishery products, down 11.1 percent over the year-ago period, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The country had seven commodities whose export value surpassed $1 billion each, including coffee ($2.4 billion), rubber ($1 billion), rice ($2.3 billion), vegetables and fruits ($2.7 billion), cashew nuts ($1.6 billion), shrimp ($1.5 billion), and wooden products ($4 billion), despite difficulties in exporting.

Rice, vegetables, and fruits reported the highest growth. Rice exports rose 22 percent in volume and 34 percent in value.

As for the import markets, China returned to be the largest buyer of Vietnam’s agro-forestry-fishery products with a proportion of 21.4 percent, inching up 7.7 percent.

The U.S. ranked second with 20.2 percent, plunging 32.9 percent. It was followed by Japan with 7.7 percent, down 5.3 percent.

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