Vietnamese pomelo has opportunity to expand exports to many demanding markets. (Photo: VNA) Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy, Deputy Director of the Export PromotionCentre, said that Vietnamese pomelo is considered to have superior quality toother countries thanks to its moderate sweetness and suitability toconsumers of many regions and markets together with a low pest risk.
As pomelo has thick skin, it is easy to preserve for a longtime after harvest, which makes it possible to transport by sea, according tothe official.
Besides, agricultural products and pomelo in particular aresubject to preferential tariffs under free trade agreements to which Vietnam isa member, hence the large potential for pomelo export to many markets.
Thuy pointed out that currently, Vietnamese pomelo is mainlyexported in the form of fresh fruit with low added value. Pomelo can be processedinto many different products such as fruit juice, essential oil and jamwhile the essence in pomelo peel could be used to produce many types ofpharmaceuticals and foodstuffs.
The trade official said the US has allowed the official import ofgreen-skinned pomelo from Vietnam, which is the seventh fresh fruit of Vietnamto receive permission to enter this market, after mango, longan, lychee, dragonfruit, rambutan and star apple.
Other goods such as coconut and durian have already been exportedto the US but in frozen form.
After pomelo, the US is considering procedures to allow the importof Vietnamese coconuts.
Thuy cited statistics from the US Department of Agriculture thatthe US has huge demand for fruits, estimated at around 12 million tonnes peryear while the US’ domestic production of fresh fruit met only about 70%of the demand. This is a big opportunity for Vietnamese fruits, includingpomelo, she said.
According to Nguyen Manh Quyen, head of the Vietnam Trade Office’sbranch in Houston, Texas, Vietnam’s export of fresh pomelo to the US remainsmodest.
Statistics showed that the US imported around 17 billion USD worthof pomelo in 2020 and 20 billion USD in 2021. In the first seven months of thisyear, the US’ pomelo import reached 14 billion USD, of which Vietnamaccounted for around 1 billion USD.
Quyen urged enterprises to pay attention to strictly comply withthe guidance of the US Department of Agriculture and the US Food and DrugAdministration when exporting fruit to the US.
Vietnamese pomelo also has the opportunity to expand in Indonesiaand Hong Kong.
Vu Thi Thuy, from the trade office in Hong Kong, said that HongKong has high demand for fresh pomelo, spending 36.4 million USD toimport pomelo last year, an year-on-year increase of 28.2%. Vietnam rankedsecond in exporting pomelo to Hong Kong with export revenue of 2.5 million USD,after Thailand with 7.8 million USD in 2021.
However, in the first seven months of this year, Vietnam’s exportof pomelo to Hong Kong increased 133% against the same period last year toreach 2.53 million USD, becoming the largest pomelo exporter to Hong Kong./.
VNA
