Compliance with quality standards – a must to bolster fruit exports: insiders
Armers and businesses must improve product quality, and strictly follow the rules of origin and ensure food safety to boost fruit exports, experts said.
They made the affirmation at a recent conference jointly held by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), and the Vietnam Institute of Agricultural Engineering and Post-harvest Technology and the National Authority for Agro-Forestry-Fishery Quality, Processing and Market Development under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) in Ho Chi Minh City.
Describing fruit as a key agricultural export product, Deputy Director of the MARD’s Plant Protection Department Le Van Thiet said that fruit shipments in recent five years grow 10-15% annually, most of which are destined for China, the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the EU.
Negotiations to diversify export markets have made Vietnam one of the largest fruit exporters in Southeast Asia, while encouraging farmers and exporters to make more investment in their processing, packaging and transport facilities to ensure that Vietnamese fruit products meet foreign market standards, he said.
Pointing out several challenges that hamper fruit exports, including technical barriers, strict sanitary and phytosanitary measures and fierce competition, Thiet said farmers and businesses must comply with quality standards of importers, while promoting sustainable value chains for their products.
