On August 8 local time, the US Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) sent a letter to the Plant Protection Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam informing the agenda of the 2023 bilateral meeting on crop health and inviting the delegation of the APHIS to attend the meeting.

USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service expects the two sides to reach a final agreement on Vietnam's import requirements for U.S. peaches during the upcoming negotiation process.

In addition, APHIS also informed the United States of opening its market to the Vietnamese coconut King.

On August 7, APHIS completed the update of the online database of Agricultural import Applications (ACIR) to approve the import of young coconuts from Vietnam. The coconut has removed at least 75% of the fiber from the coconut shell and completely removed the outer green skin.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Vietnamese producers can begin exporting coconut to the United States "immediately."

Earlier, in April 2023, Vietnam's Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hwan met with the Secretary of the USDA. Thomas Vilsack, Vietnam's secretary of state, said that Vietnam had completed the relevant procedures and opened its market to American grapefruit. At the same time, he suggested that the US side speed up the evaluation process and open the door to Vietnamese coconuts and passion fruit.

Fresh coconuts are considered a "billion dollar" industry in Vietnam. In 2022, the export value of the product is expected to be about $900 million, making Vietnam the fourth largest exporter of coconut products in the Asia-Pacific region.

At present, about 200,000 hectares of coconuts are cultivated in Vietnam, producing about 2 million tons, mainly in the central coastal provinces such as Cha Wing Province, Ben Tre Province and the Jiulong River Delta.