Measures sought to boost export of dragon fruit to India, Pakistan

A business networking conference was organised virtually on August 5 to seek ways to boost the export of dragon fruit to India and Pakistan amid difficulties due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dragon fruit which ranks first in terms of competitive advantage among 11 fruits and is often in the group of products earning billions of USD from export, is entering the harvest time, with an estimated output of 1.45 million tonnes in 2021, up 10 percent year-on-year.

Therefore, the sale of dragon fruit is a great pressure for localities, including southern Binh Thuan and Long An provinces. Binh Thuan’s total output of dragon fruit is estimated to reach 650,000 tonnes this year, while that of Long An is estimated at 330,000 tonnes.

Vu Ba Phu, Director of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency, expressed his hope that through this conference, businesses and localities will have the opportunity to learn more about the market situations, demands and requirements of the Indian and Pakistani markets.

Businesses and localities can introduce to Indian and Pakistani partners the potential and strengths of Vietnamese dragon fruit products, and connect promising business cooperation opportunities in the future, he added.

Vietnamese Ambassador to India Pham Sanh Chau affirmed that the Vietnamese diplomatic agency and the trade office in Indian always exert their efforts to connect Vietnamese exporters with the Indian market.

In the past 5 years, the value of Vietnamese dragon fruit exports to India has surged, from 26 percent in 2015 to 52 percent in 2020, Chau said, adding that this shows that India has a huge demand for this fruit.

The Vietnamese Embassy in India is willing to support domestic enterprises in the promotion and sale of fresh and processed dragon fruit products, he affirmed.

As Vietnam has yet to export dragon fruit to Pakistan, Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Tien Phong suggested businesses learn about consumption habits to approach the market appropriately./.