Up to this time, it can be said that durian has replaced dragon fruit to officially become the “king” of Vietnam’s export fruits.
In the monthly report, this time (May) the General Department of Customs dedicated a section to talk about the breakthrough growth of durian exports. This is a rare move by the Customs, if not unprecedented.
Durian has replaced dragon fruit to become the “king” of export fruit.
The report emphasizes that the main contribution to the increase in fruit and vegetable exports is the strong increase in durian exports (HS code 0810.60.00). In May 2023, the value of durian exports reached the highest level ever, with 332 million USD, more than 10 times higher than the previous month. Accumulated in the first 05 months of 2023, durian export value reached 503.4 million USD. This was up 475.8 million USD, more than 18 times compared to 27.6 million USD in the same period last year. In particular, durian exports to China amounted to 477 million USD, accounting for 95% of the total export value of this group of the country.
It is likely that durian will become a billion-dollar export item in the first year of official exports to China. More notably, now, the durian season in Vietnam has only ended in the Southwestern provinces. The new crop in the Eastern provinces officially opened with the event on June 16, Dong Nai Provincial People’s Committee in collaboration with the MARD held a ceremony to announce the export of the first durian shipment to China with an amount of 360 tons.
In addition to the above two regions, Vietnam has another large growing area, the Central Highlands, which will enter the harvest in the third quarter.
But most importantly, according to many experts, the demand and potential of the Chinese market are still very large, worth more than 04 billion USD in 2022. According to Mr. Doan Nguyen Duc, who owns the largest durian garden in Southeast Asia, the Chinese market is still vast.
Durian exports increased by 18 times in the fisrt 05 months of 2023.
At the end of May, the General Department of Customs of China approved an additional 47 growing are codes and 18 durian packaging facilities of Vietnam meeting export requirements to China. This increases the total number of growing areas and packaging facilities to 293 and 115, respectively, which have been granted official export codes by China. These are the conditions to believe that durian exports still have many opportunities to increase export value.
The breakthrough growth of durian increased the export value of vegetables and fruits in May 2023 to 656 million USD, up 67.7% over the previous month. Accumulated in the first 05 months of 2023, the export value of the vegetables and fruits group reached more than 02 billion USD – this is the highest export value in 05 months ever and increased by 43% over the same period last year.
In terms of absolute numbers, in the first 05 months of this year, fruit and vegetable exports increased by 608 million USD compared to the first 05 months of 2022./.