The event was co-hosted by the Vietnamese Embassy in India, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), and authorities of Binh Thuan, Tien Giang and Long An provinces which are major producers of the fruit.

Deputy head of the MoIT’s Department of Asian-African Markets Do Quoc Hung said diversifying markets for Vietnamese farm produce and dragon fruits in particular will help avoid reliance on certain markets.

Hung underlined the potential of the Indian market, which has a population of nearly 1.4 billion people whose daily diet includes a lot of fruits.

Participating businesses were informed on issues of concerns when exporting dragon fruits to India and engaged in discussions with Indian businesses.

According to the MoIT, dragon fruits continued to be a key currency earner last year with a revenue of over 1.04 billion USD, or 29.4 percent of the total fruit and vegetable export value. China was the biggest consumer of Vietnamese dragon fruits with a turnover of 925.7 million USD last year, or 88.7 percent of the total. The US and India came second and third with 30.2 million USD and 13.55 million USD, respectively.

The three provinces of Binh Thuan, Long An and Tien Giang together account for 93.6 percent of the country’s total cultivation area and 95.5 percent of output of dragon fruit.