What to do for bananas to step out of the country?

Why do Vietnamese bananas exported to Europe have a good price but the output is so modest? The issue of diversifying markets, especially large - fastidious markets and improving value and standards for bananas to become a key export fruit product still has a lot of work to do ahead.

As one of the leading units in Dong Nai province in exporting bananas, Mr. Ly Minh Hung, Director of the Cooperative Linking the production and consumption of clean agricultural products Thanh Binh (Thanh Binh commune, Trang Bom district) ) said that the opportunity to export bananas is still very large through recent sales trips of the cooperative in the EU, Russia, some Middle Eastern countries, Japan, Korea...

Expectations for the EU market

Particularly in the EU market, in this March or April, the cooperative will export about 4-5 containers of old South American bananas, equivalent to 80-100 tons.

Mr. Hung said that banana exports to China are sometimes precarious, but with the export to the EU, it is very reassuring because this market, once doing reputable business with them, is very stable.

Last year, with an average price of 3,192.9 Euros/ton (up 16.4% compared to 2019), banana imports from Vietnam to the EU were recorded at a much better price than the supply. from other countries.

The demand for bananas in the EU is forecasted to increase in the next 7 years and will account for 31% of the global banana import market. Obviously, the high selling price and plenty of room for consumption will be the driving force for Thanh Binh Cooperative to promote banana exports to the EU in the near future. It is important that the banana raw material area of ​​the cooperative needs to meet strict EU standards.

The promotion of banana exports to the EU market in order to take advantage of tariff preferences in the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) is very necessary at this time. Especially when Vietnam's banana export output to the EU is still very modest: ranked 55th among banana exporting countries to the EU.

In fact, the EU market still has a lot of room to boost banana exports in the near future. And with the EVFTA, Vietnamese bananas not only exploit the value in terms of exporting to the EU, but through this market to serve as "credits" to prove that Vietnam's bananas have reached the level where they can go to any market. In the world.

From there, the value chain with banana trees will become more and more organized to create livelihoods and profits for farmers, especially in localities where banana farming activities are developing.

For example, in Dong Nai - which is known as the "capital" of banana cultivation of the country, although many times have to be "rescued", the area of ​​banana cultivation is constantly increasing. As of March 2021, the province had nearly 10.6 thousand hectares of bananas, an increase of thousands of hectares compared to the same period last year.

In which, Trang Bom district is still the "capital" of Dong Nai's banana cultivation with an area of ​​over 4.2 thousand hectares, the most are old banana varieties with tissue culture for export.

Understanding standards, diversifying markets

In fact, when the EU market was just opened, the high dependence on the Chinese market made the output of banana growers in Dong Nai always precarious when the supply was increasing.

Talking to Business, Mr. Dao Thanh Hong, a trader buying bananas in Dong Nai, said that the supply of bananas increased rapidly because farmers were racing to grow bananas, but last year, due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, the pepper market Slow consumption, banana prices are not equal to 2019.

With banana exports this year, according to Mr. Hong, it is still difficult to predict when the complicated developments of the Covid-19 epidemic are still there, while export activities are still waiting for better market diversity to avoid heavily dependent on the Chinese market.

In avoiding export dependence on China, over the past time, with the Asian market, Korea and Japan have been focused by banana exporting enterprises.

For example, in Korea, with a banana import scale of over 300 million USD/year, enterprises expect to have a lot of room to improve and increase their market share in this market.

The Vietnam Trade Office in Korea said that over the past time, Vietnamese enterprises have actively coordinated with Korean enterprises and the Trade Office to research and improve banana varieties, the process of planting, harvesting, preserving and packaging. products suitable for Korean consumer tastes.

As an enterprise that has only participated in the project of growing South American bananas on a farm in Tay Ninh province since March 2020 with a scale of 156ha, but by February 2021, Thanh Thanh Cong Bien Hoa JSC had the first shipment. are exported to difficult markets such as Korea. And next time, this enterprise will export to Japan, Malaysia...

In order to diversify export markets outside of China for Vietnamese bananas, especially conquering large and demanding markets such as the EU, Japan, Korea, the Middle East... Banana exporters need to understand and meet the standards in these markets.

In particular, the growing of bananas for export must increasingly strictly comply with the cultivation processes; Banana farmers are responsible for their standards once they are established.

In order for bananas to become Vietnam's main export fruit, businesses and cooperatives should invest better in this fruit according to international standards and voluntarily comply with the standards that their import partners have show.