HCMC - The Vietnamese agriculture sector expects the United States to allow two more types of fruits to enter the market, increasing the total number of fruits exported to this country to nine.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan, during a meeting with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack, said that coconut and passion fruit are set to enter the U.S. market, besides seven other fruit types comprising mango, longan, lychee, dragon fruit, rambutan, star apple and pomelo. Vietnam has held negotiations with Australia to export passion fruits and pomelos to the market, apart from four other fruits: mango, longan, lychee and dragon fruit. As for other markets, 12 fruits have entered the China market, followed by New Zealand with three types. Europe is a potential market for Vietnamese fruits. The free trade agreement between the European Union and Vietnam has opened opportunities for Vietnamese agricultural products. In practice, negotiations between Vietnam and other countries for exporting fruits takes a long time, even up to 12 years. Mango is among the most accepted fruits, followed by dragon fruit, rambutan, longan and lychee. Vietnam's mango growing area increased by 21,000 hectares in 2017 and is expected to reach 140,000 hectares by 2030. Vietnam ranks 14th in the world in terms of annual mango production and 4th in the ASEAN region, behind Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, according to worldatlas.com.