The information was mentioned at the workshop held by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on January 6 to discuss solutions to promote the consumption of dragon fruit amid the halt of dragon fruit imports from the Chinese side.

Prices of dragon fruit in Binh Thuan and Long An are falling sharply, causing great damage to farmers.

Deputy Director of the Department of Crop Production Le Thanh Tung said that Vietnam’s dragon fruit output is about 1.4 million tonnes per year with a focus in Binh Thuan, Long An and Tien Giang.

“With about 300,000 tonnes of dragon fruit harvested from now until March amid suspended export to China, we have to find outlets for this fruit,” Tung noted.

Deputy Director of Binh Thuan Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Phan Van Tan said that the province is estimated to have more than 100,000 tonnes of dragon fruit needed to be consumed in the first quarter of 2022.

However, the purchasing power is low while the selling price is falling after the customs clearance at northern border gates has been suspended.

Tan noted that the province is guiding enterprises to export dragon fruit to India and to export to China by sea as well as working with Chinese provinces to ask for support for the consumption of the fruit.

He also suggested that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and related agencies continue to negotiate with the Chinese side to soon reopen border gates and create policies to support the consumption and transportation of dragon fruit.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam emphasised that the Chinese market is a large market with high requirements. Therefore, Vietnam needs to improve its capacity to meet Chinese standards and regulations while avoiding the dependence on a single market.

He said that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Industry and Trade have been actively working with Chinese authorities to deal with the congestion of agricultural products. However, difficulties still remain for the near future.

Nam also suggested that the agricultural sectors of the three provinces of Binh Thuan, Long An and Tien Giang actively work with the provincial leaders to hold local trade promotion events to attract businesses to participate in the processing and consumption of dragon fruit.

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Source: NDO