Lychee exports in five days exceed volume in whole year 2020

Despite of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, consumption and export of lychees is going just swimmingly.

Hai Duong lychees are now put up for sale at Japan's AEON supermarket at very high prices. Photo: RD.

Full of optimism

In Hai Duong province,  up to now  consumption of lychees has been going smoothly and the situation is quite optimistic. According to Hai Duong Sub-Department of Crop Cultivation and Plant Protection, until now, Hai Duong's "U Hong" lychee crop is basically harvested and consumed . Currently "Thieu" lychee  of the main crop is at the peak of the harvest.

According to the data from the export enterprises, there are now over 50 tonnes of Hai Duong lychees exported and consumed in the Japanese market.

In order to create favorable conditions for increasing capacity of lychee exports to Japan, the Plant Protection Department (PPD)recently worked with Japanese partners and Japan agreed to allow three lychee fumigation chambers  in Hai Duong to treat lychees for export to the country.

Thanks to that, Hai Duong lychees will be treated right in the province without having to bring to the PPD's units for treatment as before. Three lychee fumigation chambers are newly invested so they have good quality process  and high capacity with maximum of nearly 50 tonnes of lychees per day.

With technology improvements and the fact that Japan authorized Vietnamese agency to supervise lychees, within five days, the volume of lychees exported to Japan was more than that in the whole year 2020. At present,  the enterprises continue to process and treat lychees for exporting to other markets by sea . Several businesses have started exporting lychees to Singapore.

In the domestic market, the promotion of consumption via e-commerce platforms has gained positive results. According to a source  from Sendo e-commerce retailer, it initially planned to sell 12 tonnes of "U Hong" lychees in four days from May 24 to 28. However, due to the rapid increase in orders, Sendo sold nearly 20 tonnes of lychees within three days while still seeing the rising demand from customers. Therefore, Sendo has extended time for selling "U Hong" lychees until the end of May 2021 and plans to continue selling "Thieu" lychee in June 2021.

Thanks to applying post-harvest preservation technologies, when reaching domestic customers lychees are as fresh and tasty as in the gardens which is highly appreciated by consumers.

Building brand in Australia

According to the Vietnam Trade Office in Australia, over the past time  the Trade Office worked with Australian lychee importers. The two sides agreed on a plan to import about 100 tonnes of lychees from Vietnam to the states of South Australia and Western Australia . For other states, the Trade  Office is continuing to promote trade connections basing on the shipping situation.

Going with this plan, the Trade Office will continue to deploy a scheme to develop a brand and promote consumption of Vietnamese lychees in Australia in 2021  with specific contents such as: continuous trade connection  throughout the lychee season , appointing officer to coordinate with businesses to solve the problems and remove obstacles of import procedures into Australia (If any). The Vietnamese enterprises having any problems can contact via email: huongtvau@gmail.com or huongnt@moit.gov.vn.  Promoting the acceptance of lychee fruit turning to yellow due to irradiation.

Increasing demand through advertising such as advertising on social media, stores, supermarkets and other channels. In addition, implementing the programs "buy Vietnamese lychees win prize",  doubling the effectiveness  of advertising campaign "Buy one Vietnamese agricultural product win another product."

Promoting post-processing lychees (canned, dried and frozen lychees) after the end of the season. Encouraging business associations and Vietnamese overseas communities to eat and consume the homeland's lychees.

The Vietnam Trade Office in Australia will propose Australian agencies to speed up customs clearance when lychees imported into Australia.  

Over the years, Australia's 4wayfresh and Vietnam's Rong Do Service And Trading Company Limited have made great efforts to improve preservation, working with the Trade Office to take measures to boost growth of lychee market in Australia.

Vietnamese lychees are tasty and popular with Australian consumers. This year, importers and promotion programs are ready. However, lychee exports in this season will largely depend on transportation.

Australia also grows fruits that Vietnam has strengths including lychees. Therefore, boosting exports of lychees requires constant efforts.

Open up consumption market for Son La fruit "bowl"

Son La provincial People's Committee in coordination with the Ministry of Industry and Trade(MoIT)  , Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has just organized an online conference to promote consumption and exports of mangoes and longans in 2021.

In 2021, Son La has over 19,000 hectares of mango trees with an output of about 65,000 tonnes (harvesting time from May to August 2021) and more than 19,000 hectares of longan trees and production is estimated at 98.500 tonnes (harvesting time from July to September 2021).

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Cong, Vice Chairman of Son La Provincial People's Committee said, the Plant Protection Department (PPD) has granted 181 planting area codes to more than 4,700 hectares of fruit trees in the province and 37 packaging facilities for exports. Of which, 132 codes are granted for export to China, and 51 codes are for export to Australia, US...

According to Mr. Vu Ba Phu, Director of  the Trade Promotion Agency under the MoIT, in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, over the past time  the Agency focused on solving the problems and  remove difficulties for businesses, increasing ability of sale techniques and trade promotion on the digital platforms.

Noticeably, the Trade Promotion Agency helped businesses promote fruit consumpton via domestic e-commerce platfroms such as Lazada, Tiki, Shopee, Sendo and international platforms lijke Amazon, Alibaba, etc. The Agency has set up online stalls on Laazada, Tiki, Shopee, Sendo within the framework of the National Program on Trade Promotion.   These are general stalls, supporting consumption for the local  agricultural products.

As for Son La province, in the fruit harvest of 2021, the Trade Promotion Agency has helped connect and bring plums and mangoes onto Shopee e-commerce platform since May 25, 2021.

Shopee e-commerce platform agreed to work with the Trade Promotion Agency to step by step train and advise business households, cooperatives and enterprises in Son La about skills on opening, managing and operating  online stalls as well as carrying out activities to develop good brand images and successfully promoting products.

In the coming time, the Trade Promotion Agency plans to coordinate with Vietnam Post Corporation (Vnpost) to deploy a program to help farmers and farm owners nationwide sell safe agricultural products and  food online.

In the near future, the Trade Promotion Agency will work with Son La's departments and offices to help cooperatives, farm owners distribute products via online video streaming on the digital platforms. This is a new activity of the Trade Promotion Agency in order to quickly and effectively  connect the Son La's suppliers of agricultural products with new trends in the market.

Within the framework of the online conference, in Yen Chau District,  Son La provincial People's Committee coordinated with the Trade Promotion Agency, processors and exporters to hold a handing-over ceremony of Son La mangoes according to the agreement with processors, suppliers, exporters and e-commerce platforms in 2021.

At the event, there was a signing ceremony between the Trade Promotion Agency with Son La People's Committee, Vietnam Post Corporation, e-commerce platforms such as Postmart, Shopee Vietnam in Northern region on supporting provinces to bring products onto the e-commerce platforms and sell products via online video streaming.

Mr. Le Quoc Anh, Vnpost's Deputy General Director said that the company will continue to work with the authorities to improve capacity for digital transformation, bringing the agricultural and typical  products of localities  onto the e-commerce platforms.

Vnpost will complete a closed ecosystem to accompany people in digital transformation  in agriculture and rural areas, contributing to the digital economy.