Global demand for tropical fruits on the rise

VOV, 26/10/2004

The demand for vegetables and fruits will annually increase 3.6 percent from now to 2010, while production is increasing only 2.8 percent, the Food and Agriculture Organisation forecast.

In the recent past, Vietnam exported to China nearly 100,000 tonnes of blue dragon, longan, rambutan, litchi, mango, banana, Sapodilla plum, water melon, lemon and jack-fruit. Nearly 40,000 tonnes of processed fruits and 17,000 tonnes of fresh fruit were also exported to Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan.

The demand for Vietnam's fresh fruits and processed vegetables and fruits from potential markets, including China, Japan, Britain, France, Holland, Canada, and the US are also on the rise.

According to the Vegetable and Fruit Import-Export Corporation, the global output of tropical fruits is around 69 million tonnes a year, with pineapple representing 45-47 percent of the global fruit export value. It was followed by mango (24 percent), avocado (11 percent), pawpaw (8 percent) and other fruits (9-10 percent). Thailand is the biggest fruit exporter, which produces 16 percent of the global fruit output, and the Philippines, second, with 12 percent.