May alone witnessed the country’s durian exports skyrocket by 107% to reach US$450 million compared to the previous month and up 34% against the same period from last year.

Elsewhere, durian exports enjoyed a 3.5-fold rise compared to dragon fruit, which used to secure the top position in the export group of fruit and vegetables.

Dang Phuc Nguyen, general secretary of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, stated that China is still increasing its purchases of Vietnamese durian.

Nguyen therefore predicted that the durian export volume in June will reach US$600 million, raising the total turnover in the first half of the year to US$1.5 billion.

He pointed out that Vietnamese durian enjoys plenty of advantages, such as an abundant output, fast shipping time, and reasonable prices, especially when the overall quality of frozen durian has been controlled.

However, with some recent shipments being contaminated with banned substances, Nguyen warned firms to tighten inspection over the substances at the garden and packaging facilities in a bid to improve the overall product quality.

The Plant Protection Department recommends that localities and businesses closely monitor  growing area codes and packaging facilities in a bid to avoid buying durian from unlicensed establishments, which in turn could impact the export activities of local businesses.

The fruit and vegetable sector fetched over US$2.65 billion from exports in the first five months of the year, up 30.9% year on year. China was the country’s major export market, accounting for 64.5% of the total turnover, with a value reaching nearly US$1.71 billion, up 32.94%.

Strong growth has been recorded in other markets such as the Republic of Korea, the US, and Japan.

The Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association forecasts that fruit and vegetable exports this year will continue to grow by 20% to US$7 billion, a rise of between US$0.5 - 1 billion compared to the set plan at the end of last year.

Source: VOV