Singaporean consumers taste Vietnamese lychees

Vietnamese lychees grown in Hai Duong province’s Thanh Ha district which is renowned for its juicy fruit domestically hit the shelves in Singapore on June 3.

Vietnamese lychees are on display at a FairPrice supermarket in Singapore.

Importers are offering promotional sales at VND105,000 per kilogram and the price is set to rise to VND120,000 per kilogram in the coming weeks.

Unlike last year when Vietnamese lychees were only sold at FairPrice hypermarkets or large trading centres, this year they are available at all 230 FairPrice supermarkets, said a representative of the Trade Promotion Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

For this lychee season, Singapore is set to consume at least a 40 ft. container of fresh Vietnamese lychees per week, and the import volume is expected to rise to 100 tonnes by the end of July 2021, said the representative.

According to the Trade Promotion Agency, every year Singapore imports more than 2,000 tonnes of lychees from China, Vietnam, Thailand and Southern hemisphere countries such as Australia, South Africa, Madagascar, and Mauritius

It re-exports approximately 400 tonnes of fresh and canned lychees to Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Maldives, Barbados, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Kenya, Seychelles, and Gulf countries.

This presents both an opportunity and a big challenge to Vietnamese lychees in general and trade promotion in particular, said Tran Thu Quynh, head of the Vietnamese Trade Office in Singapore.