DOVECO is ready to underwrite Central Highlands’ fruits

At the Forum “Connecting production and consumption of agricultural products and OCOP products in the Central Highlands region in 2021” on the morning of September 25th, as said by Mr. Dinh Cao Khue, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Dong Giao Export Foodstuff Export JSC (DOVECO), the company, like any other businesses, suffered greatly because of the Covid-19 epidemic.

DOVECO’s biggest difficulty at the moment lies in the fact that the cost to export deep-processed, fresh fruits and vegetables has become too much. In particular, the cost for exports to the USA increased 13 times and the cost for esports to Europe increased 12 times. The DOVECO representative stated that the matter of raw materials in the Central Highlands requires more attention.

“The company has only 11,000 ha of passion fruit growing area in the Central Highlands to supply 4 processing factories. There will be a serious shortage of raw materials in the near future. Regarding Vietnam's passion fruit, the current output can only meet 20-30% of the global demand. Localities and units in the Central Highlands need to continue growing passion fruit and develop large-scale production," suggested Mr. Dinh Cao Khue.

Furthermore, DOVECO also has a large demand for Taiwanese mangoes, Keo mangoes, avocados… The company is ready to sign long-term underwriting contracts with raw material areas in the Central Highlands. Mr. Khue proposed that there should be more specialized programs and forums on specific products such as avocado or passion fruit in the future.

In accordance with the opinions of the DOVECO representative, Deputy Minister Tran Thanh Nam said: “Localities and provincial Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development need to review the raw material areas to build link chain models associated with cooperative activities, thereby ensuring material areas for processing factories”.

Mr. Dao Van Ho, Director of the Agricultural Trade Promotion Center (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) shared that several agricultural underwriting enterprises had signed cooperation agreements with localities and establishments in the Central Highlands region.

Some highlights in the forum that can be mentioned include the People's Committee of Dak Lak province and the People's Committee of Kon Tum province signed a cooperation agreement to connect with the MM Mega Market supermarket system regarding agro-product supply and demand; the chain store Uncle Tom signed a cooperation agreement with Gia Lai People's Committee and Thanh Dat Cooperative (Lam Dong); Dak Lak Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Management Sub-Department signed a cooperation agreement with Vietnam Organic Nutrition Joint Stock Company...

“It is very difficult to find a land as fertile as the Central Highlands. If the irrigation issue in the dry season can be resolved, no land can compete with the Central Highlands in terms of advantages and favorable conditions for cultivation. The world market has a great demand for fruit products, but Vietnam's processing power at present is not high. Domestic enterprises therefore need to create a link and cooperate with each other to make good use of Central Highlands’ advantages, promote fresh fruit processing and exportation," said Mr. Dinh Cao Khue.