WHY ARE VIETNAMESE FRUITS EXPENSIVE TO JAPAN?

In late 2015, the first batch of Cat Chu mangoes was exported to Japan. At retail supermarkets in Japan, Cat Chu mangoes cost about 8-10 USD/kg (equivalent to 200,000 - 230,000 VND/kg). At this price, a mango costs about 70,000 VND (small fruit) and 100,000 VND (large fruit). To be popular in your country market, Cat Chu mangoes have to go through the process of planting the right techniques and quality assurance.

Cat Chu mango is grown mainly in Cao Lanh district (Dong Thap). Cat Chu mango is harvested twice a year in July and the month of Tet holiday. Ripe mangoes have a sweet taste, lots of water, thick flesh, yellow color and pleasant aroma. In Vietnam, Mango Cat Chu only fluctuates below 50-70,000 VND/kg.

In addition to Cat Chu Mango, in Japan market, since 2009, white flesh dragon fruit has begun the journey to conquer Japanese consumers - the most difficult market in the world. Only a short time later, red dragon fruits were also approved for official import into this market. Currently dragon fruits are exported regularly to Japan, accounting for the majority of more than 1,000 tons of dragon fruit that the country imports each year. At supermarkets, Vietnam dragon fruit is priced from: 250,000 - 300,000 VND/fruit depending on the type.

In addition, since 2014, a number of businesses in Vietnam have negotiated and successfully exported lychee lot to Japan and continue to maintain until now. A tray of lychee (12 fruits) at a supermarket in Japan costs up to 430,000 VND. In fact, some fruits are cheap fruits in Vietnam, there is year have seasonal, in Bac Giang, lychee is only a few thousand VND/kg. However, litchi exported to Japan has a different cultivation process than that of domestic fabrics.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, by the end of September, Vietnam exported to the Japanese market the amount of goods worth US $ 5.07 billion, up 10% over the same period in 2018. Japan is currently ranked 3rd among the export markets reached US $ billion only after the US and China.

Although Vietnam has exported agricultural products to the Japanese market, according to businesses, this is a difficult market, not easy to penetrate because Japanese people demand high quality of goods while Vietnamese enterprises mainly craft production. In addition, Vietnamese businesses do not have much experience, information about the market, consumer tastes, product prices of the Japanese market...

Mr. Pham Minh Duc, Vice Chairman of Vietnam Organic Agriculture Association, said that Vietnamese agricultural products that want to come to Japan must meet the standards of quality, food safety and hygiene. Currently, some Vietnamese fruits such as oranges, tangerines, papayas, etc. are added to the Japanese ban list because of Eastern maggots. This shows that enterprises wishing to export agricultural products to the Japanese market must improve the quality, technology of preserving and processing agricultural products as well as production costs.

Source: http://cafef.vn