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Fruit exports slump due to poor quality
Export prices for fresh fruit have plunged after many European countries have suspended imports of several kinds of fruit from Viet Nam over quality considerations, Tuoi tre (Youth) newspaper reported.
The suspension began since early this year after some of the imported fruit failed to meet the international GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) standards, it said.
GAP certification helps ensure the quality, safety and origins of exported fruit.
Exporters whose shipments were returned have had to sell the fruit at lower prices in the local market or wait to export it in smaller volumes to mainland China.
Dam Van Hung, owner of the Ben Tre Province-based Huong Mien Tay Green-peeled Grapefruit Exporting Company, said he withdrew two containers of the fruit from Cat Lai Port in HCM City for fear that Vietnamese fruit would attract technical barriers imposed by Germany.
This had recently happened to fruits exported from Thailand, he said. Hung said he had to eventually retail the fruit in Ha Noi, which was difficult initially because few people would buy grapefruits in winter.
While waiting for orchards to receive Global GAP recognition, he would have to seek less stringent markets in Asia, Hung said, adding that if fruits were only consumed locally, prices would fall further and farmers would suffer.
He said obtaining global GAP certification was not easy because it cost tens of thousands of US dollars for each shipment. He said close co-operation between farmers, traders and the Government was required to address this issue.
Local prices of many fruits in season had already fallen over the last several weeks, farmers said.
Le Van Thanh, owner of an orchard near the Vinh Kim wholesale market in Cuu Long (Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta) province of Tien Giang, said the price of green-peel grapefruit had fallen by VND10,000 a kilo to VND18,000 after the traditional Lunar New Year or Tet holiday early last month.
He said falling prices and low consumption had made it difficult for farmers to sell fruits that were in season.
The head of the Cho Gao Dragonfruit Co-operative in Tien Giang, Huynh Hong Ung, said that the harvest of dragonfruit was in full swing, but traders were purchasing them only to sell in the local market and export them to China.
Dr. Nguyen Minh Chau, Director of the Southern Fruit Research Institute, said Cho Gao District grew dragon fruit on 3,000ha, 100ha of which were cultivated under Global GAP standards as instructed by the institute.
However, like Hung, he said that the lack of funds meant having the fruits inspected and certified was not possible for either the farmers or the exporters.
The loss of the European market has forced fresh fruit exporters to focus on China, but this move has not been very successful. Nguyen Xuan Huy, director of the Long Giang Agricultural Products Processing Company in Tien Giang, said China had limited imports of longan from Viet Nam after Tet, citing substandard quality and packaging.
This had caused prices to plunge to VND12,000 a kilo from VND20,000 a kilo earlier, he said.
The price slump has also affected the custard apple crop in Tien Giang. Nguyen Van Ngan, head of the Lo Ren-Vinh Kim Custard Apple Co-operative, said prices of the fruit now stood at VND15,000 a kilo or a third of pre – Tet prices. He said custard apples cultivated under Global GAP standards were selling for just VND25,000-27,000 a kilo because the yield was low and the fruit was mainly consumed in the domestic market.
Chau said that Vietnamese fruit would have higher value and farmers enjoy more profit only if they were exported to Europe.
He said European markets still preferred Vietnamese fruit, including grapefruit, banana, pineapple, papaya, dragonfruit, and mango. Because they were high-end markets, for them Global GAP standards was a matter of course.
In this situation, the Government should support farmers to cultivate fruit trees under the required standards and expand cultivation areas, as well as provide funds to enable quality certification of farm produce.
Nguyen Van Khang, Chairman of the Tien Giang People's Committee, said that the province has been slow in applying the Global as well as Viet GAP standards to local fruit cultivation even though it was the first locality to introduce these.
vietnamnews
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