Vietnam's total fresh produce shipments to the US are rising year-on-year, in line with the country's growing exports to America, reports Thanhniennews.com.
Nguyen Huu Dat, a Vietnamese plant quarantine official, said Vietnam exported US$41.5m worth of fruit and vegetables to the US during the first nine months of this year: “up an impressive 12 per cent year-on-year”.
The director of one dragon fruit exporter, Hugo Import Export Company in Ho Chi Minh City, told Thanhniennews that his firm hopes toshipa total of 400 tonnes to the US this year, up from 50 tonnes last year.
Business insiders told the paper that dragon fruit exports to the US will rise to around 2,000 tonnes this year, up from 1,300 tonnes in 2013.
The US also began importing Vietnamese longans and lychee this year.
Vietnam’s total goods exports to the US are expected to reach US$29.4bn by the end of 2014, making Vietnam the top South East Asian supplier to the country for the first time in its history, the report said.
The US Chamber of Commerce predicts bilateral trade will continue to surge to US$57bn in 2020, leaving other Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states far behind, the report said.
Vietnam has gone from representing 1 to 22 percent of ASEAN's trade with the US since 2000, beating Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, Tuoi Tre newspaper said. The Chamber of Commerce said Vietnam’s exports to the US will account for 34.1 per cent of the bloc's total exports by 2020.
