However, exports of fruits and vegetables surged sharply by 39% in the first two months of 2016.

It was up four times over the last five years (2010-2015) at an average rate of 32.1%.

The commodities firstly joined the &lsquoone billion USD&rsquo club in 2013 by earning US$1.095 billion.

Their exports rose from US$1.49 billion in 2014 to US$1.81 billion in 2015.

Regarding production, the cultivation area of fruits and vegetables expanded from 565,000 hectares in 2000 to 779,700 hectares in 2010 800,000 hectares in 2015. Production output of fruits accelerated strongly with 20,700 tons of grapes, 688,900 tons of mango, 736,100 tons of orange 515,100 tons of longan and 697,100 tons of lichi and rambutan.

Fruit and vegetable exports also increased in types, quantity and markets. As of late 2015, Vietnamese fruits and vegetables are present at 16 foreign markets, bringing home over US$10 million from  each market.

As of January, 2016, 14 markets imported over US$1 million worth of Vietnamese fruits and vegetables. Last year, China took the lead with US$1.195 billion (accounting for 65.9% of the market shares) followed by Japan with US$74.1 million the Republic of Korea with US$67 million the U.S. with US$58.6 million Taiwan (China) with US$40.4 million the Netherlands with US$42.3 million Malaysia with US$37.1 million Thailand with US$32.4 million Singapore with US$24.7 million Russia with US$22.9 million Australia with US$19.7 million Hong Kong (China) with US$17.6 million  

However, fruit and vegetable exports are still below expectations and potential in land, climate, and types.

Other export obstacles included heavy reliance on the Chinese market, poor performance of planning, storage, and processing.

The imports of the products remained high with US$294 million in 2010 and US$622 million in 2015.

In January-February, import turnover amounted to US$107 million, representing a year-on-year growth of 46.3%./.