Delegates participate in harvesting lychee. — VNA/VNS Photo

HẢI DƯƠNG — The People's Committee of Hải Dương Province on Friday held a ceremony to start off the lychee season and mark the export of this year's first batch of Thanh Hà lychees.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Trần Văn Quân, vice chairman of the provincial People's Committee, emphasised that along with ensuring safe and quality production, the province continues to focus on trade and product promotion and connecting consumption markets.

Immediately after the opening ceremony, the People's Committee of Thanh Hà District coordinated with enterprises to cut the ribbon and export the lychee batch to Japan.

On the same day, the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade coordinated with the provincial People's Committee to organise a conference to promote the Thanh Hà lychee trade with Vietnamese trade counsellors and foreign enterprises.

Trần Văn Hảo, director of the provincial Department of Industry and Trade, said that in addition to the traditional market of China, which consumes about 15,000 - 20,000 tonnes of the fruit, Thanh Hà lychee has been exported to many high-end markets such as the US, Japan, Australia, the UK and the EU.

In addition, the average domestic consumption output is about 20,000 tonnes per year.

The province will grow about 8,800 hectares of lychee this year, including 2,850 hectares of early lychee and 5,850 hectares of main-season lychee.

This year's harvest is expected to yield about 60,000 tonnes, including 32,500 tonnes of early lychee and 27,500 tonnes of main-season lychee. Thanh Hà district alone is expected to harvest about 38,000 tonnes. — VNS