Vietnam’s Market for Fresh Coconuts Expanding

Vietnam’s fresh coconuts are being increasingly consumed in international markets such as the US, China, and the UK, highlighting a bright spot in Vietnam’s fruit export sector with many opportunities for breakthroughs in the near future, a Vietnam Plus report said on November 02.The country holds the 6th position in the global coconut market in terms of cultivation area at 200,000 hectares and in output at roughly 2 million tons of the nuts annually, the report said.
This production capacity has enabled Vietnam to export coconuts to 15 foreign markets, with 30,000 tons.  Though the fresh coconuts have been shipped to these markets, bulk goes to China, its primary market. According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) Hoang Trung, China consumes over 4 billion coconuts annually, of which approximately 2.6 billion are fresh ones.  This presents an opportunity for the Vietnamese product.
Statistics from the MARD show that the fresh coconut ranks sixth in export value among fruit items the country exports, following durian, dragon fruit, banana, mango, and jackfruit. The fruit’s export earnings in the first 10 months of 2024 is projected to reach over USD120 million.