Vina T&T Import - Export Service Trading Co Ltd (Vina T&T Group) began construction on a fresh coconut processing plant in Chau Thanh District, the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre, on Sunday.

Costing VND200 billion (US$8.55 million), the plant, with designed production capacity of 25 million coconuts per year, is expected to become operational in 2019, with its products to be exported to North America and Australia.

According to Nguyen Dinh Tung, General Director of Vina T&T Group, fresh Vietnamese coconuts exported to the US have to compete with their Thai peers which have already established a firm foothold in the market.

The group has been able to increase its volume of exported coconut to the country to five containers (equivalent to 100,000 items) per week from one container in the past.

Between January and October this year, the company shipped 4 million coconuts to the US, Canada, and Australia, up 38 per cent year on year.

Vina T&T sources most of its coconuts from the Mekong Delta region, including Ben Tre, Tien Giang, Long An, and Tra Vinh.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Viet Nam’s coconut plantations cover about 166,000ha, of which more than 70,000ha are located in Ben Tre. — VNS