Why do Japan and Korea import a lot of bamboo leaves and banana leaves from Vietnam?

In recent years, Vietnam regularly has orders to export leaves to foreign countries, such as banana leaves, dong leaves, sticky leaves, lemon leaves... These products mainly serve the consumption needs of the Vietnamese people in Japan, Korea, America, and European countries. In Japan, Korea, or Europe, these leaves are rare, expensive, and often impossible to buy.

For example, in Japan, because banana trees can only be grown on the island of Okinawa - where the climate is warm, Okimana banana leaves are sold at a high price.

Or bamboo leaves are favored by consumers in Taiwan and Japan because they are used to wrap cakes, food packages or decorate food. Bamboo leaves for export must be large leaves, about 8.5cm wide or more, 40cm or more in length and must be bright green, not torn.

Currently, the export price of fresh bamboo leaves is about 10,000 VND/kg, the most competitive compared to other exporting countries like India.

Meanwhile, lemon leaves are widely used in many Western dishes and are also purchased by businesses to export to the European market. Lemon leaves are exported in 2 forms: seasoning is packed with galangal, chili pepper and lemongrass for Thai hot pot; Packaged in small lemon leaves and completely frozen.

Vietnam has many types of leaves that can be exported to foreign countries, contributing to solving the problem of crop rotation of farmers. Currently, people are mainly intercropping, but there is no concentrated area, so it is difficult for businesses to want to develop and promote purchasing. Regarding the export standards of leaves, depending on each market, enterprises must meet many different criteria.