Delegates at the ceremony to announce the shipment of fruit from Ben Tre Province to the EU under the EVFTA, Ben Tre, September 172020. (Photo: NDO/Hoang Trung)

NDO – The first batch of fruit from Ben Tre sent to the European Union (EU) with a zero tax rate under the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) was announced on Thursday (Sep 17).

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This afternoon, at the headquarters of the Vina T&T Group in Chau Thanh District in the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and local authorities announced the exportation.

Accordingly, the Vina T&T Group will export one container of 20000 fresh coconuts by sea and three tonnes of dragon fruit by air to the EU market.

The company, with its advanced technologies and modern equipment in the field of fruit production, processing and exporting, has met the requirements needed to serve the EU market.

Fresh coconut products packed for export. (Photo: NDO/Hoang Trung)

Statistics from the MARD showed that after more than a month since the EVFTA took effect this August, many export products of Vietnam have witnessed positive changes in the EU market. Of which, a number of agricultural products have been exported to this most selective of markets, such as brackish shrimp from Ninh Thuan Province, coffee and passion fruit from Gia Lai Province, and now fruit from Ben Tre.

Fruit is one of the main Vietnamese export items to the EU market. In the first seven months of 2020 fruit exports to this market reached US$5918 million, accounting for 7354% of the total value of fruit and vegetable exports to the EU.