The year of 2018 marked a brilliant success for Vietnam’s Agriculture sector although last year, the country had to face the of stacked difficulties: the US-China trade war, the increase of importing standards of Vietnam’s major agricultural markets including the US, EU, China, Japan, Korea, etc. In fact, Vietnam did suffer some losses in terms of prices and export volume but overall, the country did overcome all obstacle to become the 15th largest exporter of agricultural products in the world.
There are many new products contributing to this great achievement but here are the top 3 largest exports, which helps to glorify the position of Vietnam in the global markets.
Rice
Over the past thirty years after the American War, Vietnam has moved from a country to grow enough food to feed the population to the world’s second largest rice exporter. This includes a number of new programs aiming at developing regional competitive advantages, improving quality control and increasing the production of farm products as well as developing infrastructure and production facilities more in line with international standards.
The question now for the Vietnamese rice is not about how to raise productivity but about how to build and confirm the prestige of Vietnamese rice trademark.
Vietnamese rice is now consumed in more than 150 countries and territories, including the pickiest markets in the world.
For a long-term development strategy for Vietnamese rice, Eco Fruit Co.Ltd. is working continuously to update the market trends in order to be fully aware of what the world needs and try to satisfy the demands.
Cashew
The cashew industry in Vietnam is well-known worldwide. Our cashew nuts are now accounted for more than 50% of processed cashew and more than 60% of cashew nut exported worldwide. For 12 consecutive years, Vietnam has maintained its position as the top leading exporter of cashew nuts. The three current major markets are the Netherlands, China, and especially the US.
According to the Vietnam Cashew Association (Vinacas), in 2019, Vietnam plans to export 350,000 tonnes of cashew nuts for about 4 billion USD, which is a lower volume but higher value than last year.
Cashew nuts have a really bright future ahead as regular consumption of nuts are proved to bring various health benefits to the human being. Thus, import volumes are increasing steadily worldwide.
Furthermore, the cashew industry in Vietnam has been successfully turned the cashew shells, which are considered as rubbish by many people, into nut shell oil. This product is expected to create a market worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year for the country. The Cashew oil is a popular material in many industries. It is used to produce high-quality adhesive materials, binder for seagoing vessels’ paint, and laminated and heat-resistant materials.
Coffee
If you spend some time searching about Vietnam’s specialties for your next vacation, most of the answers are about Vietnamese Coffee. Although Coffee was introduced in Vietnam by French people, the country’s weather and soil conditions are optimal to grown Robusta Coffee. The Robusta variety is one of the two principal species of coffee grown in the world, the other being Arabica.
Nowadays, Vietnam is the second largest coffee exporter in the world. The export volumes are high but the export value does not reflect the right value of the Vietnamese coffee. The reason is that we mainly export the low-quality raw Robusta bean to be used in the production of instant coffee and other products. In reality, Vietnam has all favorable conditions to grow high-end Robusta or “specialty coffee”, which can be considered even better than low-end Arabica, which is known as a higher quality coffee species.
At the moment, we have “Weasel coffee”, which is made from coffee beans that had been eaten and excreted by weasels, to attract the attention of premium coffee lovers around the world.
The Robusta coffee is naturally resistant to environmental stress and is highly adaptive while Arabica is harder to grow and requires more intensive care. Eco Fruit Co. Ltd is involving in creating the coffee value chain for Vietnamese coffees in order to ensure sustainable development for our products. Our aspiration is to make the coffee lovers worldwide thirsty for our Specialty coffee.
Besides, there are some other lucrative commodities, which needs more support from the Government to improve its competitiveness in the global markets.
Corn
Corn plays an important role in the development of the Agriculture sector. It is mainly used in the production of animal feed. However, Corn yield in Vietnam was really low at 4.6 million tonnes in 2010, which could only meet 40-50 percent of the domestic demand. This means that we had to import millions of tonnes of corn.
Since 2014, Vietnam’s authorities have permitted the cultivation of GMO corn, which was considered as a good solution to build a sustainable development as well as to help corn farmers.
GM corns produce higher yield while limiting the damage from pests and weeds. Besides, GM corns help local farmers to cut input costs and negative impacts on the environment as these kinds of corn plants do not require large amounts of pesticides and herbicides.
As a result, our corn production reaches the number of 12 tonnes on each hectare, compared to the production of the year of 2010.
Cassava
Cassava in Vietnam is another agricultural product export that reaches a turnover of billion dollars a year. Its export value reaches $1-1.35 billion per year.
Cassava is an industrial plant that helps improving farmers’ poverty, especially those in remote areas. It contributes to ensure political stability and the national defense by creating jobs and income.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), Cassava has an area of about 550,000ha and produces about 10 million tonnes per year.
China is now the biggest market of Vietnam’s cassava, among other promising markets such as Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines, etc.
Overall, Eco Fruit Co. Ltd is a group of hot-blooded, professional and ambitious people who work to make the farming industry to flourish by bringing to the world the best Vietnam agricultural products.
