HÀ NỘI — Lục Ngạn District in the northern province of Bắc Giang enjoyed a rich lychee harvest this year, a boon for farmers with lychee prices at a record high.

This year’s lychee production decreased from 2016 but the current average selling price is VNĐ10,000 (44 US cents) higher than last year, said Nguyễn Văn Hiếu, head of Đồng Còng hamlet, Lục Ngạn district’s Tân Mộc commune.

“Household gardens in the hamlet sell a kilogramme of lychee for VNĐ30,000 to 45,000,” Hiếu told Vietnam News Agency, adding that lychee growers in Đồng Còng Hamlet expected to earn revenue of VNĐ250 million to VNĐ300 million from selling lychee.

Lychee harvest season begins in May and ends in July every year. During the peak season, in Hà Nội, hundreds of trucks and motorcycles carrying lychee from Bắc Giang flock to markets, filling the city with red, ripe lychees.

In Hà Nội, lychee prices vary because there are many lychee types from many localities. Lục Ngạn lychee is priced at VNĐ54,000 per kilogramme with stems and leaves, and VNĐ68,000 per kilogramme without them and packed in a net bag.

When the lychee season began, prices fluctuated daily and trended higher than last year, Hà, a fruit shop owner in Hà Nội’s Kim Ngưu Street said, adding that some people spent VNĐ80,000 for a kilogramme of lychee to worship ancestors.

In some fruit shops, lychee is sold at VNĐ108,000 to VNĐ120,000 per kilogramme. However, when the season comes to its peak, the prices will fall to about VNĐ60,000 per kilogramme, Hà said.

According to Nguyễn Thị Hoa, a Fivimart supermarket worker, the difference in the price of lychee depends on the type of fruit. Many cheap lychees cost VNĐ15,000 to 25,000 per kilogramme and are usually sold by street vendors, Hoa said.

To promote Lục Ngạn lychee, Bắc Giang Province’s Industry and Trade Department together with Lục Ngạn District’s People’s Committee, Hà Nội’s Industry and Trade Department and Big C Supermarket organised the 2017 Lục Ngạn–Bắc Giang Lychee Week, which began at Big C Thăng Long Supermarket in Hà Nội last week.

At the opening ceremony of the event, which will last through June 23, Nguyễn Thanh Bình, chairman of Lục Ngạn District People’s Committee, said this year, lychee production in the district was estimated at 60,000 tonnes, down 25,000 to 30,000 tonnes compared with 2016.

Although production had decreased over the previous year, due to proper care and techniques, the quality of lychee was much improved, boosting the selling price, Bình said.

Increase export

Trần Quang Tấn, director of the Bắc Giang Province’s Industry and Trade Department said Bắc Giang lychees are cultivated in a concentrated lychee-growing area, using VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards, ensuring clean produce that meet food safety and hygiene requirements. Therefore, the lychee can be exported to markets such as the EU, the US and Australia.

The seminar heard that today, a container of Lục Ngạn lychees will be exported to Thailand, helping Vietnamese lychees approach this market, especially when tariff barriers are lifted under the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community.

As reported by cafef.vn on June 19, a representative of the Customs Department of the northern mountainous province of Lạng Sơn said that a shipment of fresh lychees was sent to China through the Tân Thanh Border Gate on May 14.

As of June 16, the department has certified 7,365 tonnes of fresh lychee for export to China, with an average of 300-400 tonnes of fresh lychee shipped every day.

Border guard forces work with custom officers to help lychee carriers so the fruit can be transported abroad quickly, the representative said.

According to Bắc Giang Province’s Department of Industry and Trade, many Chinese traders have completed procedures to purchase Lục Ngạn lychees.

These traders together with the Vietnamese traders opened some 150 lychee selling points in China. A kilogramme of lychee sold in China fetches from VNĐ35,000 to VNĐ57,000. — VNS