FOR THE FIRST TIME, VIETNAM EXPORTS ITS FRUIT SURPLUS TO THAILAND

According to the General Department of Customs, in 2020, the export of vegetables and fruits to Thailand will reach 157 million USD, up to 209.7% compared to 2019. With this value, Thailand has risen to the 3rd position in the markets of Vietnam's largest fruit and vegetable market (after China and the US).

Meanwhile, imports of fruits and vegetables from Thailand in the past year decreased sharply. If in 2019, the import of vegetables and fruits from Thailand reached the value of 487 million USD, then in 2020 it would have decreased sharply to 78 million USD, a decrease of 84%. Due to the sharp decline as above, Thailand has dropped from No. 1 to 3rd place after China and the US) among the largest fruit and vegetable exporters to Vietnam.

Thus, this is the first time that the export of vegetables and fruits to Thailand has surpassed the value of vegetables and fruits imported from this country, or it can be said that it is the first time that Vietnam has a surplus of vegetables and fruits to Thailand.

A few years ago, not many people thought of the day when Vietnam exported vegetables and fruits to Thailand, because Thailand was quite ahead of Vietnam in the field of commodity fruit and vegetable production and fruit and vegetable export, and especially then Vietnam is having a trade deficit of fruits and vegetables from Thailand with great value.

Specifically, in 2017, the import of vegetables and fruits from Thailand reached 857 million USD, while the export value of vegetables and fruits to Thailand was only 36 million USD, meaning that the trade deficit of vegetables and fruits from Thailand amounted to 821 million USD. In 2018 and 2019, although the value of vegetables and fruits imported from Thailand continued to decrease while exports of vegetables and fruits to Thailand continued to increase, Vietnam still had a trade deficit of Thai vegetables and fruits to hundreds of millions of USD.

In fact, the movement of import and export of fruits and vegetables between Vietnam and Thailand over the past few years has clearly seen the trend of declining fruits and vegetables from Thailand to Vietnam while vegetables and fruits from Vietnam to Thailand are increasing.

After peaking at 857 million USD in 2017, to 2018, vegetables and fruits imported from Thailand have decreased by nearly 21% to 681 million USD. In 2019, import of vegetables and fruits from Thailand decreased by nearly 29% to 487 million USD. And as mentioned above, in 2020, the value of vegetables and fruits imported from Thailand dropped sharply by 84% to 78 million USD. This is a surprising drop.

Coconut is one of the most exported fruit and vegetable products to Thailand in the past year. Photo: TL.

In the opposite direction, Vietnam's fruit and vegetable exports to Thailand have continuously increased since 2017. In 2018, the export of vegetables and fruits to Thailand reached 45 million USD, up 25% compared to 2017. In 2019, the export of vegetables and fruits to Thailand continued to increase sharply by 66.24% compared to 2018 and reached 75 million. USD. And by 2020, it will increase to 209.7% compared to 2019.

According to some experts in the fruit and vegetable industry, Thailand, despite being the leading exporter of vegetables and fruits in the region, is quite similar to Vietnam in many key fruit and vegetable products. However, Vietnamese fruits and vegetables still have many opportunities to penetrate more and more into this potential market.

Thailand is a country with a highly developed food processing industry in general, fruits and vegetables in particular, so the country has a great demand for a variety of raw vegetables and fruits and must increase imports from abroad.

This year, Vietnam's coconut exports to Thailand increased strongly, mainly to serve the needs of processing coconut products in this country. According to the International Trade Center (ITC), in the first 7 months of 2020, Vietnam's coconut exports to Thailand reached 129 thousand tons, worth 50.4 million USD, up to 377.7% in volume and 781, 3% in value over the same period in 2019.

On the other hand, the fact that a number of Thai supermarket systems in Vietnam promote the purchase of Vietnamese vegetables, fruits and agricultural products for export into these same systems in Thailand, has significantly contributed to increase export value of vegetables and fruits to Thailand.

Thai supermarkets in Vietnam increase the export of Vietnamese vegetables and fruits to Thailand, the main reason is that the Thai people love and appreciate the quality of many types of Vietnamese vegetables and fruits, including there are also many similar types in Thailand have. For example, Thailand is famous for durian, but durian in many growing regions of Vietnam is favored by many Thais for its taste better than durian.

Source: https://nongnghiep.vn/

Publication date: 02 Feb, 2021