Vietnam and the US are considering opening markets to many new fruits

From September 9-13, 2024, U.S. Department of Agriculture Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Alexis M. Taylor leads a delegation comprising of officials from 60 US agribusiness and farm organizations and nine state departments of agriculture seeking to develop and expand business opportunities with importers in Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries.

“I am honored to lead this diverse delegation to Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi as we celebrate the first anniversary of the US-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership," Under Secretary Taylor said. "Agriculture plays a huge role in our bilateral trade relationship, and Vietnam now ranks as the United States’ 10th-largest export market for agricultural and food products. Throughout the week, the participating companies will meet with businesses from Burma, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam to foster strategic partnerships that lay the groundwork for future sales.”

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), exports of US agricultural and related products to Vietnam, which totaled nearly $3.5 billion in 2023, are recognized by Vietnamese consumers, importers and retailers for their reliability, quality and sustainability. US tree nuts, fresh fruit, poultry, beef and pork are in particularly high demand by Vietnam’s food processing, retail and restaurant sectors.

However, fruits exported from the US to Vietnam are still subject to quite high import taxes, such as plums (20 per cent), blueberries (15 per cent), tangerines (20 per cent), according to Under Secretary Taylor.

Through this visit, a series of trade connection activities between the two countries' importers and exporters will be held to learn about market conditions in Vietnam and the region.

The delegation will learn about activities at supermarkets, stores, visit factories and production facilities using imported materials from the US such as: nuts, flour, cereals...

At the "United Tastes" program held on September 9 in MM Mega Market Vietnam, Ms. Alexis M. Taylor said Vietnam is the 10th largest agricultural export market of the US and the US is the 3rd largest agricultural export market of Vietnam.

"There are many food products that can complement each other between the two countries," she added. "In particular, many types of Vietnamese fruits are not available in the US. Meanwhile, US livestock, poultry, cotton products, etc. have great potential in the Vietnamese market. There is still a lot of room for the markets of the two countries to be further exploited. First is Vietnamese passion fruit and American lemon."

The visit also provided US agricultural businesses with an opportunity to enter the Southeast Asian region with the participation of potential customers from Myanmar, Cambodia and Thailand.