Vietnam expects to earn US$1 billion from exporting dragon fruit to the US market by the end of this year.

According to the Southern Fruit Research Institute (SOFRI), there is an increasing demand for imported fruit in foreign markets, including the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Taiwan.

Dr. Nguyen Huu Dat from the Department for Plant Protection said Vietnamese dragon fruit has great opportunities to enter the US market. Since Vietnam was allowed to market this fruit in the US, the export volume has increased sharply from 100 tonnes in 2008 to 1,200 tonnes last year.

 

 This year, dragon fruit exports to the US are likely to reach 2,000 tonnes as the export volume has doubled in the first half of this year. Other markets like Japan and the Republic of Korea also saw a 25% increase over the previous year, Dat said.

Vietnamese rambutans are also favoured in the US, although the price of the Vietnamese fruit is triple that of Mexico (about US$15/kg). In 2012, about 350 tonnes of Vietnamese rambutans were shipped from Vietnam to the US, earning US$3 million.

Over the past few years, Vietnam’s fruit export turnover has increased considerably from US$185 million in 2010 to US$360 million in 2012.

Vietnam plans to boost exports of mangos to Japan, Taiwan, the Republic of Korea and New Zealand. It is also completing procedures to ship other types of fruit, such as litchis and longans, to these promising markets.

VOV