The highest export of pistachios among fruits and vegetables clearly reflects Vietnam’s shifting role in the global food value chain, from exporting raw agricultural products to high-value products.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in 2025, Vietnam’s fruit and vegetable export turnover reached 8.5 billion USD, an increase of 19.8% compared to 2024.
Notably, pistachios recorded an export value of nearly 466 million USD, an increase of up to 72.3%, making it the fastest-growing item in the fruit and vegetable group in 2025. This trade volume is even larger than that of many fruits with traditional strengths, such as bananas, lemons, jackfruit, pineapples, or guavas. Along with that, almonds also achieved an export value of over 215 million USD, an increase of 62.6%, making their debut in the top 10 largest exported fruits and vegetables.
Pistachio exports increased the most among the fruit and vegetable group.
This figure is surprising because pistachios are not a domestically strong agricultural product. Vietnam has almost no large-scale raw material areas for this item.
However, this shows Vietnam’s shifting role in the global food value chain from exporting raw agricultural products to high-value products.
One of the key factors for the strong growth of pistachios in 2025 was Vietnam’s preferential import tax policy. From March 31, 2025, the Most Favored Nation (MFN) import duty on pistachios was adjusted from 15% to 5%, while the duty on almonds was reduced from 10% to 5%. Deep tax cuts significantly reduced businesses’ input costs, especially for supplies from the United States, the world’s largest producer of pistachios and almonds.
Additionally, the breakthrough of pistachios and almonds is linked to global consumer trends. The demand for nutritious nuts and health foods continues to grow strongly, opening up significant opportunities for processing, distribution, and international trade.
Vietnam is taking advantage of its geographical location, logistics costs, food processing capacity, and port system to participate more deeply in the supply chain. Instead of just exporting raw products, businesses are expanding into deeply processed goods, where the added value lies not in the raw materials but in processing, standards, and trade.