Japanese business mull cooperation opportunities in dragon fruit consumption and exportation

Currently, Binh Thuan is Vietnam’s largest dragon fruit growing area, with 27,000 hectares, located mostly in 2 localities of Ham Thuan Nam and Ham Thuan Bac district, with a total output of 500,000 tons a year.

As of now, over 9,500 ha of plantation area is granted with VietGAP certificate while other 262 ha is certified as GlobalGAP standards.

The province has 97 facilities purchasing, processing and selling dragon fruit at present. of which, 11 are major exporters and 3 enterprises invest in dragon fruit processing (juice, dried and semi-dried  products).

About 15-20 percent of dragon fruit output is domestically consumed while 80-85 percent is exported to other countries such as: China, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, India, Canada and Germany, etc.

According to Binh Thuan’s development orientation, it targets a growing area of 28,000 ha by 2020, with the productivity of 28 tons per hectare and a total output of 750,000 tons. In which, the growing areas, which are certified under VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards, must reach 50 percent. As such, the values of dragon fruit exports  will be lifted up to 20-25 million USD by 2020.

The Japanese business group expressed their wish to cooperative with the locality in terms of agriculture, technique and technology transfer and exporting standards to Japanese markets. 

At the reception, Chairman Nguyen Ngoc Hai applauded the visit of the Japanese business, asking the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and Department of Industry and Trade to facilitate the Group when surveying and learning at some farms and enterprises.

My Thien (Source: Binhthuan.gov.vn)