According to Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Doan Van Danh, Ben Tre now has 133 planting areas and 14 packing facilities granted with codes to export to China.
Speaking at the ceremony, Huynh Tan Dat, Director of the Plant Protection Department (PPD) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), hailed that the official export of fresh coconuts from Ben Tre to China marks a new milestone in the ongoing efforts to expand markets and elevate the position of Vietnamese agricultural products on the international market.
He stressed that the Chinese market’s opening to Vietnamese fresh coconuts brings a golden opportunity, explaining that with a population of over 1.4 billion and domestic supply meeting only about 10% of the demand, China represents a great potential market for Vietnamese coconut products.
If this opportunity is fully tapped, coconut exports to China could bring an additional 200-300 million USD as early as 2024, helping Vietnam’s coconut export earnings soon reach the one-billion-USD goal, he stated.
He called on coconut production, packaging, and export units to strictly follow the food safety regulations, quality standards, and phytosanitary procedures as regulated in the protocol on phytosanitary requirements for Vietnamese fresh coconuts exported to China, and related regulations.