Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnamese rice, spices, and fruit have been increasing their presence in demanding markets worldwide as local businesses are taking advantage of free trade agreements.

According to statistics of the General Department of Customs, in January, rice export reached 505,741 tonnes worth 246.02 million USD, sharp increases of 45.4 percent and 28.2 percent against last year, respectively.

The Vietnam Food Association (VFA) forecast that Vietnam would ensure its 2022 overseas rice shipments at between 6 and 6.2 million tonnes, similar to the amount recorded in 2020 and 2021, for a revenue of over 3.2 billion USD.

Rice exports this year is likely to maintain a good rank, as the local rice industry is increasingly improving in quality and large domestic enterprises such as Loc Troi, Tan Long, Intimex, and Trung An have sealed large orders of high value.

In addition to the traditional key export earner, investment in new products such as spices is also very promising.

The Vietnamese high-quality spices producer Dh Foods Joint Stock Company has freshly signed a cooperation agreement with the US-based Heritage Beverage Company to export its products to this market. Accordingly, Heritage Beverage will become the exclusive distributor of Dh Foods' specialty spices in the US. About ten containers of the Vietnamese products are expected to leave for the US this year starting from the third quarter.

Dh Foods General Director Nguyen Trung Dung hoped that Heritage Beverage will help his company conquer the share of the Asian food market in the US, which is valued up to 40 billion USD and serves about 30 million people of Asian origin, including 3 million people from Vietnam. It is estimated that more than 80 percent of supermarkets in this country have Asian food stalls.

Currently, Vietnam's spices exporters are better meeting strict requirements of foreign partners, capable of providing value-added, good quality and safe products for many leading importers and premium distribution channels in many regions of the world.

Contributing more than 3.5 billion USD to Vietnam’s total export turnover in 2021, the fruit and vegetable industry also successfully delivered a series of new orders from the outset of 2022. Notably, the Westerfarm limited company and Vietnam Golden Gate Joint Stock Company exported 3 tonnes of mangoes to the Netherlands.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan affirmed that this year’s agro-forestry-fishery exports will reach or even exceed 50 billion USD, growing by 3-4 percent./.