The Chinese market is shifting strongly toward high-quality consumption, forcing Vietnamese enterprises to invest in processing, traceability, and perfecting supply chains.

Cannot just sell more

China is currently the largest fruits and vegetables consumer market for Vietnam, while concurrently being a market that exerts significant influence on the development orientation of this commodity sector. However, along with an increasingly large import scale, requirements regarding quality, traceability, and transparency in the supply chain are also becoming increasingly stringent.

At the 1st Vietnam - China Agricultural Trade Connection Forum taking place on June 24, many experts and enterprises argued that the growth phase based on output volume is progressively drawing to a close. To expand market shares in the market of more than 1.4 billion people, Vietnamese agricultural products must shift toward competing on quality and added value.

The banana industry serves as a typical example of this transition process. Mr. Pham Quoc Liem, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Unifarm and Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, stated that each year China imports approximately 1 billion USD worth of bananas. Meanwhile, Vietnam currently sits within the group of the 10 largest banana exporting countries in the world with a turnover of more than 418 million USD and a production area of around 161,000 hectares. The Vietnamese banana industry is also heading toward the target of reaching an export turnover of 1 billion USD in the coming years. However, to achieve this target, expanding the area or increasing output volume is not enough. “Opportunities do not generate value by themselves. Value is only formed when products are constructed on the foundation of science and technology, quality standards, and market trust,” Mr. Liem emphasized.

According to him, Vietnam's advantage lies in favorable climate conditions, proximity to major Asian consumption hubs, and the capacity to develop high-tech agriculture. Yet growth room is only truly exploited when the entire production chain is upgraded, from crop varieties, raw material zones, cultivation, and harvesting to preservation and consumption. From Unifarm's practice, the enterprise has invested in more than 1,500 hectares of raw material zones, developing the Uni126 banana variety which possesses a capacity to resist Panama disease by up to 95 - 98%, while concurrently applying strict quality management standards throughout the entire production process.

Mr. Liem argued that the most crucial point is not owning modern technology but maintaining stable quality. This is precisely the factor helping products penetrate and stand firmly in highly demanding markets such as Japan, South Korea, China, or Singapore.

Constructing supply chains instead of merely exporting commodities

The banana industry's story reflects the common requirement for the Vietnamese fruit and vegetable sector today: shifting from exporting based on raw material advantages to exporting based on value. This shift becomes even more urgent as China is no longer a simple consumer market. A rapidly rising middle class along with the development of the food and beverage (F&B) industry is altering the structure of consumer demand. Not only requiring fresh fruit, this market is increasing the import of products carrying higher processed content, such as concentrated fruit juice, juice, fruit puree, frozen fruits and vegetables, canned goods, and raw materials serving the food industry.

According to Mr. Dinh Cao Khue, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association and Chairman of the Board of Directors cum General Director of DOVECO, this is the very segment that possesses the largest growth potential in the coming years. Unlike fresh fruit which relies on crop seasons and bears major pressure regarding consumption time, deeply processed products possess the capacity to be preserved longer, stay more stable, and bring in higher economic value.

The practical survey by DOVECO at logistics centers and processing enterprises in Zhejiang, Hubei, and Ningbo demonstrates that the demand of Chinese enterprises for raw materials and processed products from Vietnamese tropical fruits is increasing significantly. Many Chinese enterprises are interested in products from pineapples, passion fruit, mangoes, bananas, and other tropical fruits and vegetables. These are items where Vietnam possesses advantages in raw material supply sources but still has plenty of room to raise the processing proportion.

Mr. Khue argued that the next cooperation phase between Vietnam and China should not merely stop at exporting fresh agricultural products but needs to expand to raw material zone linkages, processing factory investments, cold storage development, logistics, and distribution systems. “When participating more deeply in the supply chain, Vietnamese enterprises can retain a larger portion of value instead of merely selling raw materials,” Mr. Khue said.

However, to realize this goal, multiple bottlenecks still need to be resolved. Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tùng, Chairman cum General Director of Vina T&T Group, stated that the issuance of growing area codes and packing facility codes currently remains one of the major barriers for exporting enterprises. This is a mandatory condition for agricultural products to be exported via official channels into China, but the evaluation and approval process has not kept pace with production expansion demands.

According to Mr. Tung, this delay not only drives up costs for enterprises but also causes many trading opportunities to be missed. Therefore, it is necessary to step up online inspections, construct coordination mechanisms between the functional authorities of the two countries, and form a “green lane” for enterprises possessing good compliance histories. Besides, building a shared digital database system to manage growing area codes is also viewed as a vital solution to increase transparency and restrict fraud situations.

According to Mr. Vu Ba Phu, Director General of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (Ministry of Industry and Trade), China currently accounts for about two-thirds of Vietnam's total fruit and vegetable export turnover. In 2025, fruit and vegetable exports reached 8.56 billion USD, in which the Chinese market alone reached approximately 5.5 billion USD. Along with multiple export protocols signed over the past period, opportunities for Vietnamese fruits and vegetables remain very large. However, the way of approaching the market is changing rapidly.

E-commerce platforms, modern retail systems, and digital distribution models are progressively replacing the role of traditional wholesale markets. Meanwhile, requirements regarding traceability, growing area codes, packing facilities, and food safety are increasingly strict.

According to Mr. Nguyen Quoc Manh, Deputy Director General of the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), the Vietnamese fruit and vegetable sector is standing before requirements to shift from growth based on output volume to growth based on quality and sustainable development. The recent successes of durian or jackfruit demonstrate the massive potential of the Chinese market. However, that advantage will be difficult to maintain if enterprises continue to rely on exporting raw materials.

For the Chinese market, the heading in the coming period is not only expanding the catalog of products permitted for export but also elevating the quality of raw material zones, stepping up deep processing, perfecting logistics systems, and enhancing technology application in traceability. When the market becomes increasingly competitive, added value will be the factor deciding the position of Vietnamese agricultural products. Wishing to conquer the Chinese market, enterprises cannot just sell more, but must sell products that possess higher quality, stay more transparent, and satisfy the exact needs of the market.

Currently, Vietnam has more than 20 types of fruits and vegetables permitted for official export into China. The fact that an increasing number of Vietnamese agricultural product types are exported via official channels to this market not only expands stable outlets for farmers but also satisfies the growing demand of Chinese consumers for high-quality tropical products.

Source: Bao Cong Thuong