Fruit and vegetable exports "lost steam" due to durian
According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, the export value of vegetables and fruits in May 2025 is estimated to reach 550 million USD, bringing the total export value of vegetables and fruits in the first 5 months of 2025 to 2.24 billion USD, down 16% over the same period in 2024.
The industry with the strongest decrease is durian, in the first 4 months of 2025, the total export value of this commodity only reached 183 million USD, down 60.9% over the same period. The Chinese market alone was 105.7 million USD, down 75.5%.
According to Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen, General Secretary of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, the decline of the "king tree" has led to a decline in the entire Vietnamese fruit and vegetable industry in the first months of the year.
"The sharp decline in fruit and vegetable exports since the beginning of the year is due to the double impact of the market. The first is the impact of the Chinese market when this market increases technical measures and controls the quality of vegetables and fruits. The impact of this new "technical barrier" almost immediately dealt a heavy blow to export turnover.
In addition, US tax policies create a widespread impact not only on Vietnam but also affect our markets and competitors," said Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen.
Seaweed, mango... in the season, an opportunity to regain growth momentum
Currently, it is the peak of the seaweed harvest in the provinces of Bac Giang, Hung Yen, Hai Duong... with an expected harvest of more than 300,000 tons.
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment Phung Duc Tien said that Minister Do Duc Duy has directly directed and met with relevant units to direct, guide, and support localities, businesses, and farmers to produce, process, consume, and export successfully the fabric crop in 2025.
"Because agricultural products have a crop season and are easily affected by epidemics and market developments, all scenarios are carefully prepared, drawing experience from previous years for each industry, especially during the peak season of this crop," said Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien.
Regarding durian, as soon as it received information about China tightening inspection, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment also issued instructions to a system of 9 solutions to soon restore the position of "king of fruit". In particular, directing relevant units to review and trace the origin of warned shipments, suspend the operation of violating codes, work with the Chinese side to update regulations, propose more customs clearance time, increase personnel, and testing rooms.
After timely correction, the General Administration of Customs of China issued 829 additional growing area codes and 131 codes for durian packaging facilities in Vietnam.
In addition, some other fruits still maintained their growth momentum such as mangoes with growth of more than 13%, coconut with nearly 20%, especially processed coconut with an increase of 71.3%, bananas are still a stable export product and continue to maintain a good market share in major markets, showing that the export room of this industry is still very large.
The Ministry also continues to handle market issues to facilitate agricultural exports to traditional markets such as China, Japan, the EU, while opening up new, potential markets such as Muslim Halal countries, the Middle East, Africa, etc. At the same time, monitor prices, supply sources, coordinate with localities to support connections, promote processing and consumption of agricultural products, especially main crop items such as fabric, labels, durian.
