After leaving Bangladesh, India and Egypt behind in apple import, Vietnam ranks fourth in apple import after Russia, Germany and England. But given high apple prices, Vietnam is the world's third largest apple market in terms of revenues, ahead of Egypt and the UK.
Apple exporters imported 265 thousand tons of apples to Vietnam in 2020 , worth about $500 million , at a price of $1.77 per kg. These figures are very attractive for apple exporters.
Apple is an exotic fruit for Vietnam, where apples are not grown due to the climate. Rapid economic growth and favorable demographics allow Vietnamese households to purchase high-priced imported exotic fruits. High purchasing power means high product quality. According to Andriy Yarmak , Economist of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Investment Center, the fact that the market is so profitable forces the world's leading fruit exporters to enter this market where there is serious competition and to invest by promoting their products.
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The free trade agreement signed between the EU and Vietnam has been very successful for EU farmers in this context. This agreement allowed the EU apple industry to enter a large new sales market at high prices.
After the free trade agreement between the EU and Vietnam, some countries, such as Ukraine, were out of the loop on apple exports. For example, Poland increased its apple supply to Vietnam fivefold in 2020 to 2.5 thousand tons . Even France, which has lost its place in the world apple market for many years, tripled its apple export to Vietnam and exported 11,4 thousand tons of apples.
According to Andriy Yarmak, Ukraine still cannot export its apples to Vietnam and a number of promising markets in terms of sales.
The United States and New Zealand are two important actors that export high-quality fruits to this market, where 96 million people live. In 2020, the United States exported 54 thousand tons of apples to Vietnam and 42 thousand tons of apples to New Zealand.