Vietnam's vegetable and fruit exports reached US$5.87 billion in January-August 2026, up 21.8% year on year. August alone was US$1.1 billion, up 1.3% from the previous month and up 14.6% year on year. The growth in value continues, but opening up the breakdown at the seven-month mark, the lineup of items driving exports has begun to change from what it was up to last year. For Japanese buyers, this reshuffle, rather than the total, is more directly linked to procurement planning.<\/p>\n
In the seven-month tally, cashew export value came to US$322.8 million, more than double the same period a year earlier. The 111% growth rate stands out among the main items. Vietnam is the world's largest cashew processor, importing in-shell raw material from Africa and Cambodia, processing it into shelled kernels, and re-exporting to over 100 countries, and the rise in export value also carries a rise in the raw-material market and processing fees. Because it is a phase where the unit price is rising, buyers on the Japanese side who had premised volume-based contracts need to confirm value and volume separately. Growing areas are thick in upland farming belts such as Dong Nai, and combined cultivation on the forest floor is also spreading (Growing the forest wild vegetable rau nhip in the understory of a cashew field: side income in Dong Nai<\/a>)\u3002<\/p>\n Passion fruit grew 25.6% to US$186.8 million. The growth is greater in processed forms such as concentrated juice and frozen puree than in fresh fruit, and inquiries for beverage and confectionery use support the figure. Growing areas are concentrated in the Central Highlands, and export destinations are shifting from processing-use China toward high-unit-price markets such as Japan, South Korea, and Europe. In this market, sorting-house standards and compliance with pesticide-residue and quarantine requirements are the conditions of a deal, and the stability of paperwork and lots, rather than price, becomes the dividing line of selection. If Japanese beverage and dairy makers newly develop ingredients, approaching from the supply line of processed goods rather than fresh fruit fits practice.<\/p>\n The items that had topped the value rankings, by contrast, lack growth. Dragon fruit came to US$321.9 million, down 1.6%; mango to US$265 million, down 2.5%; and banana to US$257.1 million, down 0.4%. The declines are small in each case, but a year-on-year drop while the overall total grows 21.8% means a falling share of the mix. Competition in the Chinese market and a plateau in planting lie behind this, and buyers who had built their business around these items are shifting resources to other items from the same growing regions. Placing dragon fruit at US$321.9 million alongside cashew at US$322.8 million, the two are roughly level at the seven-month mark, and the gap in momentum\u2014cashew +111% versus dragon fruit \u22121.6%\u2014reflects the shift in the product mix.<\/p>\n The top single item is still durian, at US$1.76 billion for the seven months, up 47.1%. Its destinations are heavily concentrated on China, however, and the Ministry of Industry and Trade expects durian to earn an additional US$1.2\u20131.5 billion over the rest of the period. The fourth quarter is when demand from China and Northeast Asia thickens ahead of Lunar New Year and Christmas, and the off-season for Thai durian also works in Vietnam's favor. Durian rarely becomes a direct sourcing target for Japanese buyers, but in the months when labor and logistics are tied up with durian, the shipping capacity and prices of other items are affected. If you intend to move ahead on cashew or passion fruit inquiries, negotiations tend to go more smoothly outside this peak season.<\/p>\n When the Japanese side assesses cashew's 111% rise, it needs to separate the country of origin from the place of processing. Vietnam's cashew exports are a value-added processing industry in which in-shell raw material from Africa is shelled, roasted and graded in Vietnam, and the quality of the final product depends on the factory's grading process. Snacks and confectionery in North America and Europe are pushing up demand for shelled kernels, and a clean-label orientation is reinforcing this flow. When a Japanese food manufacturer builds in Vietnamese cashew, nailing down the raw material's origin and the factory's grading tier in the specifications keeps quality variation in check even within the same \"made in Vietnam\" label.<\/p>\n For fruit as a whole, a spread from concentration in fresh produce toward processed goods is also advancing. Vietnam is increasing the number of factories that deep-process from in-shell coconut into coconut water and milk, and is showing moves to dilute its dependence on China in export destinations too. There are cases of opening new markets such as Turkey with coconut and frozen goods (Vietnamese tropical fruit opens the Turkish market: a bid for export diversification with coconut and frozen goods<\/a>). Processed coconut that can be distributed at ambient temperature through UHT and aseptic filling is a format easy to place on the shelves of Japan's beverage and health-food categories, and it is easier to manage for inventory and quality than fresh produce. The fact that the growth items are moving toward the processed side\u2014cashew, passion fruit and coconut\u2014gives the Japanese sourcing side an occasion to review its suppliers of processed raw materials.<\/p>\n What the growing items have in common is the buildout of an export framework premised on growing-area codes and packing-house registration. Both passion fruit and mango require growing-area codes and packing-house registration to enter Japan or other high-price markets, and Dong Thap's dried mango is organizing supply to Japan with 353 growing-area codes (The 353 growing-area codes carrying Dong Thap's dried mango to Japan<\/a>). When a Japanese buyer evaluates a new supplier, checking for these growing-area codes and registered factories first\u2014ahead of the growth in export value\u2014avoids the risk of being halted at quarantine or on paperwork.<\/p>\n The eight-month total of US$5.87 billion is strong, but its composition has changed to one where the mainstays of dragon fruit, mango and banana are plateauing while cashew, passion fruit and processed coconut push up the value. For buyers who have handled Vietnamese fruit in Japan, this changeover is a signal to review their trading partners. Keeping the existing fresh-produce line while adding shelled cashew as a processed raw material, passion fruit concentrate for beverages and confectionery, and ambient-distributable processed coconut to the supplier list avoids creating a sourcing gap even when a region's planting changes. Deciding, while the figures are still rising, to make contact now with suppliers that hold growing-area codes and factory registration will shape next year's procurement.<\/p>\n References: Vietnam's vegetable and fruit exports reached US$5.87 billion in eight months. Cashew nuts (+111%) and passion fruit (+25.6%) grew, while dragon fruit, mango, and banana fell below the previous year. We read the item reshuffle Japanese buyers should keep in mind.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[85,123,22],"tags":[37,77,125,498,754],"crop_category":[],"class_list":["post-1523","industry_news","type-industry_news","status-publish","hentry","category-fruits","category-statistics-data","category-export","tag-cashew-nut","tag-durian","tag-passion-fruit","tag-498","tag-754"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry_news\/1523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry_news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/industry_news"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1523"},{"taxonomy":"crop_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/crop_category?post=1523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Passion fruit up 25.6%, with processing use pushing up the figure<\/h2>\n
Dragon fruit, mango and banana have swung to year-on-year declines<\/h2>\n
Durian at US$1.76 billion depends on Chinese demand and the fourth quarter<\/h2>\n
Cashew involves the re-export of African-origin raw material<\/h2>\n
Coconut and frozen processing become the catch basin for diversifying export destinations<\/h2>\n
Growing-area codes and packing-house standards are the admission ticket to exporting to Japan<\/h2>\n
The August figures signal a changeover in sourcing items<\/h2>\n
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