Illustrative photo.

Shipments to China, the Vietnam’s largest vegetable and fruit importers for years, fell nearly 26 percent year-on-year to worth 261 million USD in January-February as a result of the neighbouring country’s stricter rules on imported food, causing severe backlogs at shared borders in the north.

However, Vietnamese vegetables and fruits enjoyed strong growth in other major markets, such as the US (79 percent), the Republic of Korea (32 percent), Japan (12 percent), Australia (45.7 percent), and the Netherlands (51.5 percent).

Many Vietnamese exporters are turning their eyes to EU markets where their products are entitled to the zero-percent tax rate from the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the markets are seeing increasing demand for tropical vegetables and fruits.

Nguyen Dinh Tung, Vina T&T Group CEO, said his company has been boosting exports of fresh and processed vegetables and fruits to the EU. The firm has come into contact with a large supermarket chain in France which looks for regular supply overseas.

It provides more opportunities for the group to enter and expand its foothold in France as well as other EU nations, he said.

Last year, Vietnam exported 3.55 billion USD worth of vegetables and fruits, up 8.6 percent from a year earlier. Of the figure, 1.9 billion USD came from shipments to China, an increase of 3 percent./.