China has granted Vietnam only a 10th of the production unit codes for agricultural produce that it has given Thailand.
Speaking at an online forum on promoting agricultural trade with China Tuesday, Dang Phuc Nguyen, general secretary of the Vietnam Fruit Association, said it took Vietnamese dragon fruit six or seven months to receive the codes, while only 5% of Vietnam’s durian growing areas have got them.
PUC is an identification number for a growing area to monitor and control production and pests, and trace origins.
The number of Vietnamese fruits allowed to be exported to China under the official quota remains small, Nguyen said.
They should step up investment in cold storage in border areas, it said.
Last year bilateral trade was worth $175.5 billion, or 24% of Vietnam’s total imports and exports. China is Vietnam’s largest fruit market, accounting for 45.4% of its exports. In the case of litchi and dragon fruit, it accounts for 90% and 80%.
It also buys 91.5% of cassava and cassava products exports, and is Vietnam’s third largest seafood export market after the U.S. and Japan.
