Viet Nam's fruit and vegetables seek outlets in Singapore

HCM City (VNA), 09/29/2004

A seminar to highlight the abundance of Vietnamese fruit and vegetables as well as the opportunities for Singaporean investors in the field was held in Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday in a bid to increase the sale of Vietnamese products to Singapore .  

According to Vo Mai, President of Viet Nam Fruit Association, Viet Nam produced 14 million tonnes of fruit and vegetables in 2003, including various kinds of subtropical fruits such as grapes, apples and pears as well as other special Vietnamese fruits.

However, Viet Nam earned only 4.5 million USD from the export of fruit and vegetables to Singapore in 2003, representing 3 percent of Viet Nam 's total export turnover from these products.

Addressing the seminar, Vice Minister of Trade Le Danh Vinh said two-way trade has been increasing in recent years, with the figure of the first eight months of this year reaching 3.1 billion USD, up 29.1 percent over the same period last year.

He urged the relevant Singaporean agencies to coordinate with Viet Nam 's Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development to accelerate the signing of an agreement on mutual recognition of farming products quarantine. Such an agreement would facilitate Viet Nam 's fruit and vegetable exports to Singapore .

He said the Trade Ministry of Viet Nam encourages Singaporean businesses to invest in producing and selling fruit and vegetable products.

Seventeen Singaporean importers attending the seminar said that fruit and vegetables imported to Singapore are not limited in volume and not subject to import taxes but have to meet food hygiene and safety standards.

They said every year Singapore imported 500 million USD of fruit and vegetables, but Viet Nam 's export turnover of these products to Singapore represented a modest 1 percent of the figure. High transportation costs, which are 7 percent higher than Thailand 's, were blamed for the low competitiveness of Vietnamese products.

VL.