Vietnam’s fruit and vegetables have been shipped to 50 nations and territories worldwide, with Asia as the main market. In recent times, the country has also penetrated some markets with high demand such as the US and Japan.

Despite the global financial crunch, which has narrowed markets, the fruit and vegetable sector has managed to steadily raise its turnover, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade. In the first quarter of 2009, Vietnam fetched nearly US$100 million from fruit and vegetable exports, up 7.8 percent from the same period last year. International customers are especially fond of many products from Vietnam - a tropical country - such as mangoes, pineapples, dragon fruit, bananas, garlic, cinnamon, luffas, mushroom and sesame.

However, Vietnam’s products have mainly catered to domestic consumers and mostly comprise fresh commodities, with only 10-15 percent being provided to processing plants and for export. In addition, the value of fresh fruit and vegetables makes up only 2.5 percent of that of the entire farm produce industry.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development says that the fruit and vegetable sector aims to raise its cultivation area to one million hectares by 2010. It will exert more efforts to deal with various difficulties in terms of raw materials, food safety, post-harvest technology, and linkages between exporters, processors and growers as well as marketers.