Tân Yên lychees being transported for consumption. The district has been proactively preparing and creating favourable conditions for lychee growers, enterprises and traders in harvesting, processing and selling lychees. — VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Bắc Giang has been actively promoting the consumption of Tân Yên early ripe lychees this harvest season, creating opportunities for domestic and foreign enterprises and traders to access the market.

Deputy Chairman of Tân Yên District People’s Commmitee Ngô Quốc Hưng said at a recent event to promote lychee consumption that Tân Yên early ripe lychees are highly sought after for their quality, food safety and origin traceability.

Tân Yên early ripe lychees have gained a good reputation for quality and popularity among consumers.

This year there are 1,420ha of lychees growing in Tân Yên District, with an estimated output of around 15,500 tonnes. The area for growing early ripe lychees was 1,250ha with an output of 15,000 tonnes. Tân Yên early ripe lychees are harvested from May 22 to June 20.

As for consumption, around 7,800 tonnes or 50.3 per cent of the total output will be sold in the domestic market, mainly at wholesale markets, supermarkets and shopping centres in major cities like Hà Nội, HCM City, Quảng Ninh, Hải Phòng and Đà Nẵng. Lychees will be sold at supermarket chains like Mega Market, Central Retail, GO!, AEON and Hapromart.

Around 7,700 tonnes of Tân Yên lychees will be exported, mainly to China, Japan, the US, the EU, Thailand, Cambodia and the Republic of Korea.

Tân Yên District is currently entering the early days of the 2024 lychee harvest. The district has been preparing and creating favourable conditions for lychee growers, enterprises and traders in harvesting, processing and selling lychees. 

Preparations have also been made for the best logistics services to facilitate the transportation of lychees.

As a retailer that has cooperated with Bắc Giang Province in selling lychees for many years, Central Retail this year is implementing a number of promotional programmes to increase consumption of lychees from Tân Yên District and also Bắc Giang Province more broadly.

Jose Mestre, national purchasing director at Central Retail, said that the region's early ripe lychees have over the years proven their value and are highly appreciated by consumers in terms of quality, food safety and origin traceability.

This year, Central Retail has provided instructions to enterprises, cooperatives and suppliers in Bắc Giang Province about procedures to put lychees on shelves in GO! and Tops Market supermarket chains.

The sale of lychees is also strengthened only via e-commerce platforms and GO! and Tops Market apps. At GO! supermarkets, lychees will be displayed at eye-catching locations right at the supermarket entrances so that consumers can easily spot them. Lychees are also exported to Thailand via the Central Retail Group's retail system in this country.

Nguyễn Xuân Việt, Director of Vifoco Import-Export Joint Stock Company, said: “We have a new method, that is a new link in the lychee supply chain. We worked with Phúc Hoà Commune People’s Committee to develop plans early, two months before the harvest, so that lychee quality can be guaranteed for export to Germany.”

“We have signed a contract to export a total of 70 tonnes of lychees to Germany this year and we have purchased 40 tonnes for this order,” he added.

To protect the Tân Yên early ripe lychee brand and its reputation for outstanding quality and expand into domestic and foreign markets, Standing Vice Chairwoman of the provincial People’s Council Lâm Thị Hương Thành urged Tân Yên District People’s Committee to continue to provide guidance to improve lychee quality and output. 

She also urged efforts to diversify markets for lychees in both traditional distribution channels and e-commerce platforms and encourage online shopping for lychees.

The promotion of lychee consumption should be associated with tourism activities in the districts and neighbourhood, she said.

It is necessary to create favourable conditions for lychee growers, domestic and foreign enterprises and traders in lychee harvesting, processing, selling and exporting.

Thành asked enterprises and traders to establish links with growers for lychee consumption. Any problems should be reported to the local authorities for timely solutions, she said. — VNS