Lychees from Hải Dương Province's Thanh Hà District ripen in the latter half of May. — VNA/VNS Photo

HẢI DƯƠNG/ BẮC GIANG — Hải Dương and Bắc Giang, two provinces in the north of Việt Nam, have begun a campaign to boost the sales of their renowned speciality fruit, lychees.

As the lychee season approaches in the latter half of May, Hải Dương Province has been making efforts to promote the sales of this fruit, particularly from the Thanh Hà District.

To this end, the Hải Dương Department of Industry and Trade and the Thanh Hà People's Committee convened a conference on Wednesday to explore ways of enhancing the value of lychees and promoting their sales.

The Thanh Hà District is widely recognised for its lychees and boasts an extensive 3,265ha of land dedicated to the fruit, of which 1,700ha are for early-ripening lychees. Moreover, around 400ha comply with the VietGAP standards and 50ha are GlobaGAP certified.

China remains a large market of Vietnamese lychee.

This year, lychee export to China will face many challenges as this neighbouring market has high and strict requirements for agricultural imports, so localities should work harder on production organisation and quality management, said Tô Ngọc Sơn, Deputy Director of the Asia - Africa Market Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Lương Thị Kiểm, Deputy Director of the Hải Dương Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that to facilitate exports, agriculture authorities have coordinated with relevant agencies to grant production unit codes (PUCs) and packing house codes (PHCs). So far, 199 PUCs for 1,119ha of lychee have been provided.

The province has also proposed the agriculture ministry’s Plant Protection Department grant five more PUCs to lychee farming zones to serve exports to China, she said.

Meanwhile, 21 PHCs have been given to Hải Dương to serve export to China, the US, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and Thailand, Kiểm said, adding that the department is also asking the Plant Protection Department to grant another three PHCs to meet the demand for lychee shipments to China.

Thanh Hà District houses 45 lychee farming zones provided with 168 PUCs. It is fine-tuning regulations to maintain the 11 granted PHCs and has an additional three, according to the official.

Trần Văn Hảo, Director of the provincial Department of Industry and Trade, highlighted that Hải Dương’s sales strategy this year is to diversify export markets and firmly maintain the domestic one.

The province has been moving to boost trade promotion since the start of the lychee crop, including sustaining and expanding export markets in case of complex COVID-19 developments and connecting with localities nationwide, shopping centres, big supermarket systems, and e-commerce platforms to advertise local lychee, he went on.

Some lychee production and exporting companies estimated that 85 per cent of the workload had been completed to be ready for a successful crop.

Nguyễn Khắc Tiến, Chairman of the Ameii Việt Nam JSC, noted his company had equipped itself with more processing and packaging machinery to prepare for exporting lychee to high-end markets.

Aside from the buyers in previous years continuing to place large orders, it hopes to enter new markets this year to increase the export volume.

Bắc Giang seeks to boost lychee export to US

The Department of Industry and Trade of Bắc Giang Province held a teleconference on Wednesday to promote trade connections and consumption of lychees and other potential local products in the US market this year.

The event connected with in the Việt Nam Trade Office in the US, the Việt Nam Trade Promotion Office in New York and the Vietnamese Entrepreneurs’ Network in the US (VENUSA), and many domestic and foreign enterprises.

Speaking at the event, director of the department Trần Quang Tấn said thanks to favourable weather conditions this year, the province's total lychee output is estimated at over 180,000 tonnes. Of these, 1,500 tonnes are scheduled to be exported to the US.

As the US is a promising market for Bắc Giang, he suggested the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s relevant units assist the province in market information, export-import policies, quality certification, food safety and hygiene, and dealing with technical barriers in Europe and the Americas.

He also proposed the Hanoi Irradiation Centre help Bắc Giang irradiate lychees for export to the US.

Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Phan Thế Tuấn committed the best conditions for domestic and foreign firms to do business, especially in lychee export.

Following the event, Bắc Giang will direct departments, agencies and localities to address issues related to production, trade, product quality, and difficulties facing firms, he said.

He wished that the Vietnamese diplomatic agencies and trade offices in the US would help Bắc Giang connect with importers of lychee and other local key products. — VNS