According to statistics from the Vietnam Pepper Association (VPA), Vietnam imported 443 tons of cinnamon in May with a turnover of 1 million USD, an increase of 18.8% in volume compared to the previous month.

In terms of market structure, Asia is the largest cinnamon import market of Vietnam. In which, Indonesia and China are the two main cinnamon suppliers to Vietnam, reaching 308 tons and 96 tons.

In May 2024, Vietnam imported cinnamon mainly from two markets, Indonesia and China, with output reaching 308 tons and 96 tons, respectively.

In the first 5 months of the year, Vietnam imported 2,452 tons of cinnamon with a turnover of 5.7 million USD, down 75.2%, and a turnover of 77.3% compared to the same period last year. Notably, China has emerged as the main supplier to Vietnam with a proportion of 45.8%.

In the opposite direction, our country exported 33,528 tons of cinnamon with a total turnover of more than 96 million USD, a slight decrease of 1.1% in volume and 4.4% in turnover compared to the same period last year.

In Vietnam, cinnamon is distributed throughout the country. However, the four most concentrated cinnamon growing areas are Yen Bai, Quang Ninh, Thanh Hoa - Nghe An and Quang Nam - Quang Ngai. In addition, each region may have different names such as: Yen Bai cinnamon, Quy cinnamon, Quang cinnamon, May cinnamon (Tay)... Vietnam's cinnamon bark reserves are estimated at 900,000 - 1,200,000 tons, with an average harvest of 70,000 - 80,000 tons/year. Vietnam is also the world's number 1 cinnamon exporter with a turnover of over 292 million USD in 2022.

According to the Vietnam Pepper and Spice Association, cinnamon is mainly grown in Vietnam, China, Indonesia, the Casia variety and Madagascar, and Sri Lanka, the Ceylon variety. Cinnamon cultivation is currently the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of ethnic minority households in remote provinces, while contributing to the socio-economic development of many localities.

Cinnamon has many uses in production and life such as being used as a spice, flavoring, medicine, used to process food, raise livestock and poultry or used as fertilizer...

Vietnam is a country with diverse medicinal resources, many of which are precious and rare. However, this is not a source of goods with high export turnover. The main reason is that there is no planning for the development of medicinal plants in Vietnam, which is spontaneous, especially because there is no specific output, so there is still a situation of destruction due to lack of consumption.

Experts said that to increase opportunities and facilitate the export of Vietnamese cinnamon, star anise and medicinal plant products to the international market, it is necessary to resolve 5 main groups of issues: Promoting research and development of products, preserving genes and rare varieties of medicinal plants; training human resources; promoting joint ventures and developing export markets; building brands for Vietnamese medicinal products and industry; developing logistics services; planning large raw material areas to create large enough commercial output to serve exports.