The veggie and fruit sector aims to gross 5 billion USD from exports in 2020.

As the EU – Vietnam Free Trade Agreement is expected to take effect in 2020,tariffs on Vietnamese fruits and vegetables will fall to zero, helping theirvalue increase significantly.

Besides, the clinched Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-PacificPartnership (CPTPP) will open new markets for the Vietnamese products.

According to Dang Phuc Nguyen, the association’s general secretary, the targetis achievable, especially when a large area of fruits and vegetables is beinggrown under VietGAP and Global GAP to meet requirements of choosy markets. 

Last year, shipments of fruits and vegetables laggedbehind expectations as they brought home only 3.8 billion USD, a year-on-year slideof 1 percent.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade said that 2019 was really a tough year withthe veggie and fruit sector. China, the largest importer of Vietnam, tightenedrequirements for imports from Vietnam via applying strict quarantine measuresand enhancing origin traceability.

However, growth was seen in the shipments to several markets such as ASEAN(26.6 percent), the US (10.7 percent) and the EU (32.2 percent)./.VNA