HANOI - China was the key market for Vietnamese fruits and vegetables in the first quarter of 2017 while consuming over 73 percent of the country's exported item, according to Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) on Tuesday.

In the first quarter, Vietnam's vegetable and fruit exports experienced a year-on-year increase of 29.8 percent to hit $700.6 million.

After China, the United States, Japan and South Korea were also main importers of Vietnamese fruits and vegetables, with 3.54 percent, 3.01 percent and 2.99 percent of the export revenue, respectively.

Notably, despite being one of the four main bowl of fruits and vegetables in the Southeast Asian region, Thailand still sat fourth among major markets of Vietnamese fruits and vegetables, as importing $14.7 million worth of the item, up 34 percent year-on-year, said the MARD.

In 2016, the country earned $2.4 billion from exporting of vegetables and fruit, up 31.2 percent year-on-year, surpassing that of rice for the first time. Vietnamese fruits and vegetables have been present in over 60 countries and regions worldwide.

In 2017, Vietnam targeted to pocket some $3 billion from exports of the item, up 25 percent compared to last year.

According to Vietnam Fruit and Vegetables Association (Vinafruit), there are many things that need to be done to realize the target, including improvement in supply of clean, high-quality and high-productivity seeding source, promoting training for safe vegetable-fruit production process among local farmers, and further investment in post-harvest and processing periods.