Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien informed that the total export turnover of Vietnamese vegetables and fruits in 2023 set a new record at US$5.69 billion, an increase of 69.2 percent over 2022 and exceeding the export turnover of rice with US$4.78 billion.
Of which, durian topped the group of vegetables and fruits with a total export turnover of US$2.2 billion, accounting for nearly 40 percent of the exported vegetables and fruits and surging five times over 2022.
The Vietnamese durian has been exported to eight countries, notably, the Chinese market accounted for 97 percent of the total export volume, mostly fresh durian.
Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien said that although Vietnam currently has 112,000 hectares of durian with a yearly output of about 840,000 tons, over 60,000 hectares have been harvested already and the rest of 51,000 hectares will be harvested in 2024.
The main reason leading to the sharp surge in durian export was thanks to granting official import clearance for Vietnamese durian to China in July 2022.
If Vietnam successfully signs a protocol on exporting frozen durians to China in 2024, the total export turnover will be lifted, added Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien.
