The event was attended by more than 300 delegates including trade counsellors from the UK, China, Russia, etc. along with domestic fruit production cooperatives anddomestic and foreign fruit import and export enterprises.
According to a survey by the VCA, the proportion of food and other key agricultural products produced by cooperatives compared to the total output of localities and the whole country accounts for about 25% to 75%, ofwhich fruit accounts for 55%.
Statistics from the International Trade Centre (ITC) also showed that the world's fruit and vegetable imports in the first quarter of 2021 reached US$70.1 billion, up 5% compared to the first quarter of 2020. The proportion of imports from Vietnam only accounts for 1% of the total import value of this item in the world.
This is an opportunity for cooperatives to promote fruit exports in the near future. Especially, thanks to the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), vegetables and fruits are one of the agricultural products that benefit the most by 94% of the total 547 eliminated tax lines on vegetables and fruits and other agricultural products.
Currently, Vietnamese fruits are present in 60 countries and territories around the world. But, besides the advantages, fruit products of cooperatives still have limitations.
VCA Chairman Nguyen Ngoc Bao emphasised that the conference aimed to share and provide information, exchange, discuss and connect supply and demand, and support cooperatives to continue gaining access to markets for consumption and export of fresh fruit products and products made from Vietnamese fruits.
At the conference, fruit production cooperatives signed a memorandum of understanding with international import-export companies to further promote the consumption of agricultural products.
