Fruit and vegetable exports may reach US$4 billionthis year

Of the above figure, export value to China is expected to reach US$2.5 billion.

Statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) showed that in April alone, Viet Nam gained US$410 million from exporting fruits and vegetables, up 75 percent against the same period last year, raising the total export value in the first four months to US$1.39 billion, up 19.4 percent. 

Key export items included dragon fruits, durians, mangoes and jackfruits. 

During January-April, China was still the biggest importer of Vietnamese fruits and vegetables, making up 58.7 percent of the total and a year-on-year increase of 27.4 percent. 

Last year, fruits and vegetables were one of the seven types of agricultural products with export turnover of more than US$3 billion.

According to a plan to develop key fruit tree cultivation until 2025 and 2030 approved recently by the MARD, the nation will concentrate on developing 14 key fruit trees, including dragon fruit, mango, banana, litchi, longan, orange, grapefruit, pineapple, rambutan, durian, jackfruit, passion fruit, avocado, and custard apple.

The area of these fruit trees is planned to reach 960,000 hectares by 2025 and one million hectares by 2030, producing about 1 -12 million tons and 13-14 million tons of products, respectively.

The MARD set to expand the total planting area of fruit trees nationwide to 1.2 million hectares by 2025 and 1.3 million hectares by in 2030, with respective yields of 14 million tons and 16 million tons.