Collaboration has secured market access for a variety of American products, including most recently stone fruit and grapefruit
U.S. Department of Agriculture Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Alexis M. Taylor launched a USDA-sponsored agribusiness trade mission in Ho Chi Minh City from Sept. 9-13. Taylor leads a delegation comprised of officials from 60 U.S. agribusiness and farm organizations and nine state departments of agriculture seeking to develop and expand business opportunities with importers in Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries.
Trade mission participants holds key importers for business-to-business meetings and learn about local and regional market conditions through detailed market briefings from USDA Foreign Agricultural Service staff, industry experts and government contacts.
“I am honored to lead this diverse delegation to Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi as we celebrate the first anniversary of the U.S.-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Agriculture plays a huge role in our bilateral trade relationship, and Vietnam now ranks as the United States’ 10th-largest export market for agricultural and food products,” Under Secretary Taylor said.
“Vietnam’s continued economic growth, ongoing reform and young population have combined to create a dynamic and quickly evolving environment for high-quality and diverse American agricultural products,” said Taylor. “Our collaboration has secured market access for a variety of American products, including most recently stone fruit and grapefruit.”
Many representatives from 60 agribusinesses and organizations and nine state governments that represent the diversity of U.S. agriculture joined the occasion. While the trade mission takes place in Vietnam, it will also provide U.S. agribusinesses a gateway to the Southeast Asia region thanks to participation by potential customers from Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia and Thailand. The participating companies meet with businesses from Burma, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam to foster strategic partnerships that lay the groundwork for future sales.
Exports of U.S. agricultural and related products to Vietnam, which totaled nearly $3.5 billion in 2023, are recognized by Vietnamese consumers, importers and retailers for their reliability, quality and sustainability. U.S. tree nuts, fresh fruit, poultry, beef and pork are in particularly high demand by Vietnam’s food processing, retail and restaurant sectors.
Vietnam and the rest of Southeast Asia holds immense opportunity for U.S. exporters, with rising consumer incomes, growing middle class populations and favorable perceptions of U.S. food and agriculture. As the third-largest supplier of food and farm products to Vietnam, the United States holds sizable market share across several categories, including bulk commodities such as cotton, soybeans and distillers grains, as well as consumer-oriented products such as tree nuts, dairy, poultry and fresh fruit.
