During the 2023 - 2025 period, Vietnamese fruit and vegetable exports achieved an average annual growth rate of 23–24%. However, to maintain long-term growth momentum, the industry must aggressively resolve two "bottlenecks": small-scale, unstandardized production and a low rate of deep processing relative to its potential.

Sharing at the workshop on agricultural exports organized by the Foreign Market Development Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) in coordination with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in Ho Chi Minh City recently, Mr. Nguyen Van Muoi, Deputy General Secretary of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, noted that Vietnam's fruit and vegetable exports are growing robustly.

UNLOCKING POTENTIAL, CREATING DEMAND

To support this assessment, the Deputy General Secretary provided a series of figures reflecting the industry's strong growth momentum. Accordingly, Vietnam's fruit and vegetable export turnover increased from 5.6 billion USD in 2023 to 7.15 billion USD in 2024, reaching 8.56 billion USD in 2025, equivalent to an average annual growth rate of 23–24%.

Notably, the trade surplus of this sector alone contributed more than 5.5 billion USD to Vietnam's total trade surplus of over 20 billion USD in 2025. This growth momentum continued in the first 5 months of 2026, with exports reaching over 2.7 billion USD against imports of nearly 1.3 billion USD.

This is a result to be proud of; however, to maintain long-term growth, the sector still faces two "bottlenecks." If these structural challenges are not thoroughly resolved, they will become barriers that make it difficult to sustain the current growth rate.

Among key export markets, China remains the dominant market, accounting for 64–65% of Vietnam's total fruit and vegetable export turnover. This reflects an undeniable geographical advantage; proximity to China is a decisive factor for perishable produce, where transportation speed directly impacts quality and value.

The United States ranks second but accounts for only 8.6%, followed by South Korea (5.3%), Japan (3.4%), Malaysia and the Netherlands (each about 2.88%), and Germany (over 1.7%). Notably, Malaysia has emerged as an accelerating market recently.

"High concentration in China is not necessarily an absolute weakness. The market potential there remains immense," Mr. Muoi remarked. He noted that in the Beijing market, many Vietnamese fruits are absent; consumers only know bananas and durians, while most other products are completely unfamiliar. This shows that diversifying the product portfolio within the largest market is just as important as seeking new markets.

Regarding India, although many expect high potential as Vietnamese durian nears export licensing, Mr. Muoi offered a cautious assessment: "A large population does not mean high consumption. When approaching a new market, one must understand their consumer culture. India may consume processed and frozen products, but exporting fresh produce there is not simple. Thailand approached it earlier, but the results did not meet expectations."

The lesson from coffee in China was cited by Mr. Muoi as proof that a potential market is not one with pre-existing demand, but one where demand can be created through systematic approaches and giving consumers a chance to experience the product.

“In China, consumers initially had no habit of drinking coffee because tea culture was absolute. However, this habit has changed significantly in recent years thanks to the systematic marketing strategies of many Vietnamese coffee brands like Trung Nguyen and Vina Cafe. That is also the necessary strategy when Vietnamese enterprises want to approach India with durian,” Mr. Muoi recommended.

TWO BOTTLENECKS TO OVERCOME FOR SUSTAINABLE GROWTH

Behind the impressive growth are two bottlenecks that Mr. Muoi frankly acknowledges as the causes for market warnings and quality incidents occurring since early 2026 regarding durian and jackfruit.

Bottleneck 1: Small-scale, fragmented production lacking standardized processes.

Currently, less than 5% of agricultural land nationwide meets VietGAP standards, meaning over 95% of production lacks standardized processes, leading to unstable and uneven quality. When each farming household applies a different process, purchasing enterprises face major difficulties in ensuring consistent quality for each export shipment.

"To open a market, we must negotiate for 5–7 years. But once opened, keeping that market is much harder," Mr. Muoi emphasized.

The fundamental solution is to promote farmer participation in cooperatives and linkage groups to create sufficient production scale, unify processes, and control quality centrally. This is not only a requirement from exporting enterprises but also a condition for Vietnam to retain markets already opened, which is far more important than just opening new ones.

Linked to this is the issue of growing area codes and traceability, mandatory requirements in most major importing markets. Currently, the majority of the burden of applying for growing area codes falls on exporting enterprises rather than farmers and state management agencies.

"The enterprise's job is to seek markets and customers, not to do the administrative work of growing area codes for farmers," Mr. Muoi pointed out this imbalance of responsibility, emphasizing that the State needs to create conditions and support people directly in the code issuance process rather than letting businesses take on this administrative burden.

Bottleneck 2: The low rate of deep processing for Vietnamese agricultural products.

In 2025, processed goods contributed about 2 billion USD to the total export turnover, accounting for about 23%. However, when calculated against the total domestic fruit and vegetable production, the deep processing rate reaches only 17–18%. Compared to Taiwan, where processing accounts for up to 80%, the gap remains very large.

Mr. Muoi analyzed that deep processing is not only the path to increasing value-added but also an essential solution to solving seasonal issues. Vietnamese fruits and vegetables often have major harvests concentrated from April to September with massive yields that cannot be consumed fresh in such a short time. Processing is the most effective supply-demand regulation mechanism to avoid the recurring "good harvest, low price" scenario each year. This is also the path to opening markets like India, where processed and frozen products have better prospects than fresh fruit.

"Although the processing sector recorded a growth rate of about 25% in the first 5 months of 2026—higher than the 23% level in 2020—to narrow the gap with leading countries, systematic investment in processing technology is required, not just at the enterprise scale but at the level of sector-supporting policies," Mr. Muoi emphasized.

The Vietnamese fruit and vegetable industry has a good foundation and strong growth momentum. However, to maintain the growth trajectory over the next 5–10 years, two fundamental bottlenecks must be decisively resolved: standardizing production from the roots and raising the deep processing rate to a level commensurate with potential. This is the basis for the sector to grow not only in quantity but also in quality—the requirement of any export market in the long run.

Source: VnEconomy