Vietnamese fruits exports to China are currently facing growing competition from Cambodia and Thailand. Farmers have been struggling to export mango, jackfruit, avocado and watermelon to China this year due to rising competition from other Southeast Asian countries.
China has given approval to 37 Cambodian companies to export mangoes, and in early May 80 tons of the fruit were shipped, with a total of 100,000 tons to be delivered this year. After this, China, seeing the high quality of Cambodian mangoes, has allotted a quota of 500,000 tons per year.
Thailand is another competitor. The Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has warned that exporters of durian, grapefruit and mangosteen to China will face severe competition from Thailand.
Apart from these sources, Chinese buyers have also been showing interest in Thai and Malaysian durian since their prices have been dropping in recent years to compete with Vietnamese ones. Vietnam has no competition from Southeast Asia in lychee exports, but China itself has been increasing the area under the fruit and so prices have dropped by half.
There are also concerns about quality checks. The border province of Lang Son recently warned that eight out of nine fruits being exported to China lack phytosanitary certification, meaning everything would be examined in China, delaying customs clearance.
