Vietnamese lychees aim to go global. - Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)The northern provincesof Hai Duong and Bac Giang are the two leading areas for lychee production.
Tran Van Quan, Vice Chairmanof Hai Duong People’s Committee, said the province aims to make Vietnameselychee a global name thanks to its world-class quality.
According to Quan, HaiDuong has over 9,000 hectares of lychees, producing 60,000 tonnes per year.About 50 percent are consumed domestically, 40 percent exported to traditionalmarkets and 10 percent to high-end markets.
Theprovince is home to Thanh Ha lychee, a variety that has made a name for itselfin many demanding markets. The fruit has been granted a Protected GeographicalIndication Certificate (PGIC) in Vietnam, as one of the Top 10 producers ofprestige, honoured as a quintessence of Vietnamese local specialities.
“Our local lychees aregrown in accordance with VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards. Remarkably, 189Planting Area Codes (PAC) have been granted to many localities with a totalgranted area of 1,200 hectares”, he said.
The vice chairman alsosaid that the province will focus on expanding export-only lychee-growing areasto add more value to the fruit and meet the growing demand of foreign markets.
Phan The Tuan, Vice Chairmanof Bac Giang People’s Committee, underscored that the province has the country’slargest lychee-growing area of over 28,000 hectares. Bac Giang’s lychees arethe first Vietnamese product to be granted PGIC in Japan and are eligible fortrademark protection in eight countries.
“Bac Giang has 15,400hectares of VietGAP lychees, equivalent to an annual output of 125,000 tonnes,and 102 hectares of GlobalGAP lychees, equivalent to over 1,000 tonnes”, hesaid.
The vice chairman alsonoted that so far, Bac Giang’s lychees have been commercially available in over30 countries.
He said the provincewill continue to boost lychee export to high-end markets and try to gain entryinto new markets, including Canada and Thailand.
Nguyen Duc Hung,manager of the Toan Cau Company, admitted that Vietnamese lychees are facingdifficulties in reaching far-flung markets because the fruits cannot be keptfresh for long.
"Fresh lycheescan be preserved for 40 days at most, so the fruits cannot travel longdistances to far-flung markets," he said.
Accordingly, herecommended that Vietnamese producers develop new lychee-derivedproducts that can last for a longer period of time so that thefruit can reach global customers.
He also suggestedlychees be transported via railway to the EU to cut costs and avoid delay inshipment, which has been an issue in sea shipping.
Saadi Salama,Palestinian Ambassador to Vietnam, stressed that products on sale in the MiddleEast normally have Halal marks on their packages, indicating that the productsmeet Halal standards.
He hoped thatmore Vietnamese lychee-derived products are Halal-labelled to expandits foothold in the market, allowing the fruits to be enjoyed by moreforeign consumers.
"I visitedmany Vietnamese exhibition booths today. All booths were well-organisedwith many eye-catching lychee products. Unfortunately, no products hadbeen Halal-labelled. I hope that they would obtain the marksoon," he said.
George Burchett, an Australian journalist, described Vietnameselychees as fruit from heaven due to their beautiful taste,though Vietnamese lychees are much more expensive in Australia than in Vietnamdue to high logistics costs./.
VNA
