Coconut and coconut-based products are considered to be a great potential agricultural products in Vietnam. In 2002, the export of coconut and coconut-based reached over 0.9 Billion USD. Vietnam’s coconut industry is ranked 4th in total value in the world coconut market. As expected, in 2023, the total coconut industry export will be over 1 Billion USD.
Coconut fresh – Great potential
Exports of coconuts and coconut products from Vietnam recorded significant growth. Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tung – General Director of Vina T&T Group Import-Export Company shared, over the years, coconut has become one of the key export products of the company, in which coconut exported to the US market is the biggest. “According to the market mechanism, this year, we aim to export fruit to the US market with 30-40% growth, including fresh coconuts,” Tung said.
Talking about the potential of Vietnamese coconuts, Ms. Nguyen Thi Truc Lien – Director of the Raw Material Division of Ben Tre Import-Export Joint Stock Company (Betrimex) said that Vietnamese coconut products have great potential, especially products with deep processing, high technology application, organic production… The company is promoting the production of coconut products to increase export value.
According to the Vietnam Coconut Association, in 2022, the export of coconut and coconut products will reach over $900 million. Vietnam’s coconut industry is ranked 4th in total value in the world coconut market. Vietnam is also the 4th largest exporter of coconut products in the Asia-Pacific region. Notably, in the past 5 years, Vietnam’s coconut industry has developed about 200 products, including some high-value products, exported to fastidious markets such as Finland, the United States… which has confirmed the brand name of Vietnamese coconut in the world market.
Fresh young coconut is also remarkably in recent years, and is potential export to Europe, due to it’s freshness and taste
Currently, the two main raw material areas in Ben Tre and Tien Giang provinces basically meet the needs of the world market. Mr. Cao Ba Dang Khoa – Acting General Secretary of the Vietnam Coconut Association said that the company’s coconut export orders are very positive, it is likely that this industry will reach the export target of over 1 billion USD this year.
Need a sustainable strategy
As a new and potential product, the coconut industry needs to build a sustainable strategy for this item. According to statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, there are 90 enterprises exporting coconut products nationwide, of which 42 have exported “Made in Vietnam” deep-processed products. Currently, the coconut industry is not just an enterprise specializing in coconut production, but there are many businesses exploiting raw materials from coconut, such as food production, essential oil production in the medical field. In particular, the trunk of the coconut tree has great potential for exploitation to produce coconut wood products.
Mr. Cao Ba Dang Khoa – Acting General Secretary of the Vietnam Coconut Association said that the saltwater intrusion season in the Mekong Delta is reducing productivity and output, causing a shortage of raw coconut fruit for export processing. Therefore, Vietnam needs to build a stable raw material area for this export product. In addition, the Government needs to facilitate the building of a national brand identity for the coconut food industry; The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development needs to include coconut trees in the project of developing key industrial crops until 2030.
“One of the key programs of the Vietnam Coconut Association this year is to develop a sustainable raw material area so that coconut farmers can enjoy transparent raw material prices, improve the value of coconut fruit and improve the health of coconuts. competition of Vietnamese coconut enterprises in the world market. Besides, in order to expand output for coconuts, in 2023, the Vietnam Coconut Association will promote trade activities to stimulate supply and demand for the market, “said Khoa.
In the upcoming plan, the Vietnam Coconut Association will build more coconut associations in many provinces and cities across the country. In each province, the association will be established by the province and the Vietnam Coconut Association is a member to support the members.
Despite the great potential, Mr. Khoa said that the development of this industry still faces many difficulties. Accordingly, businesses and associations are gradually building their own sets of standards and rules for coconuts. For example, the set of seedling standards, confirming the origin of coconut wood. The reason this industry has to do so is because there is currently no template to certify coconut wood products for transporting wood from one locality to another.
Regarding long-term solutions, Director of the Department of Agricultural Product Processing and Market Development (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) Nguyen Quoc Toan said that the Department will coordinate with units to expand exports to markets such as Australia, Korea, Japan, Singapore…; coordinate with units of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to propose and support the construction of raw material areas for coconuts and products processed from coconuts.
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