Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Vietnam must develop nationalbrands for fruit products to increase added value and competitivenessin international markets, experts said.

Although fruits bring in billions of US dollars in export revenueannually, Vietnam has no well-established fruit brands.

“When talking about apples, we think about the US,"said Nguyen Dinh Tung, Director of Vina T&T Import-ExportCompany. "Talking about kiwis, we think about New Zealand. Talkingabout melons, we think about Japan. Talking about Monthong durians, wethink about Thailand. Talking about Musang King durians, we think aboutMalaysia… Meanwhile, Vietnam, where many types of fruits are grown, does nothave any famous fruit brands.”

Tung said Vietnam has Ri6 durian, which could competewith durian from Thailand and Malaysia in terms of quality and is chosen bymany companies as an export product.

However, it is still falling behind in terms of brandidentity and value.

“Because there is no brand, the price of Ri6 is always about 20%lower than Monthong and much lower than Musang King,” he said.

Le Thi Kieu Oanh, Director of Apple LLC, which exports Vietnam’sagricultural products to Japan, said Japan imported dragon fruit from Vietnam,but only 10% were sold at supermarkets under Vietnamese brand names.

According to Ta Duc Minh, Vietnamese Trade Counselor in Japan,Vietnamese lychees are exported to many countries and have become popular withthe Japanese market.

However, Vietnamese lychees remain inferior to their Japanesecounterparts in terms of economic value, even though Japan does not have aproduction advantage in lychees.

Japanese lychees are grown in Miyazaki over an area of around10,000 hectares, and Japan has built a brand for its lychees as a preciousfruit. There was a time when each Japanese lychee was sold for as much as 10USD each, and people still waited in line to buy them, Minh said.

According to Tung, Vietnam must develop national fruit brands toincrease their value and competitiveness in the international market.

“We should select several types of fruits to build national brandsfor," Tung said. "Like New Zealand, this country successfully builtbrands for kiwis, which have markets around the world with the export value ofover 3 billion USD per year, equal to the whole fruit and vegetable export of Vietnam."

To build fruit brands of national pride, Tung said itwas necessary to pay attention to factors including varieties associated withsoil, Vietnamese culture, quality, food hygiene and safety, planting area, highyield and preservation technology.

Tung said that grapefruit, coconut and durian were fruits withlarge potential for export.

He said that to build national fruit brands, it was vital tocontrol the granting of geographical indication certificates strictly.

Each type of fruit is only suitable for the climate and soil ofcertain localities. However, many kinds of fruit, such as pomelo, dragon fruitand lychee, are grown all over the country, which can affect branding,according to Tung.

Therefore, it is important to select products associated with localculture and history to grant and manage geographical indication certificates.

For example, the best quality coconuts are from Ben Tre province,lychees from Bac Giang and Hai Duong, white-flesh dragon fruit from Binh Thuanand red-flesh dragon fruit from Long An. Vietnam could choose typical productsof each locality and upgrade them to national brands.

Ngo Tuong Vy, General Director of Chanh Thu Company, said thatamong dozens of fruits exported, Vietnam could choose from three tofive fruits to focus the resource on to build brands of Vietnam’s pride.

“It’s time for Vietnamese fruits to focus on improving qualityand adding cultural and creative elements to farming methods so thatproducts contain stories that appeal to consumers,” Minh said.

Minh pointed out that Japan focused on the quality of someworld-famous fruits of the country. Even output was controlled to maintainselling prices. For some, special farming techniques were incorporated intothe story to ensure the best quality.

Building national brands and quality management databases andtraceability systems would be the focus of the Ministry of Agriculture toincrease the export value, Deputy Minister Tran Thanh Nam said, adding thatgrowth should not be based on output any longer.

He said that the agriculture ministry must work with the Ministryof Industry and Trade to propose to the Government a programme to buildnational brands for agricultural products.

The branding should also be integrated with a digitalisationprocess in traceability, field diary, fruit chain management, and registrationand protection of fruit brands in foreign markets.

Vietnam’s export of fruit and vegetables reached nearly 3.34billion USD in 2022, 80% of which were fruit exports.

The country is heading for 4 billion USD in fruit andvegetable exports this year./.