The Việt Nam Trade Office in Australia has sent a warning to enterprises about a packaging mistake of exported longan to Australia. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The Việt Nam Trade Office in Australia has sent a warning to enterprises about a packaging mistake on longan exported to Australia after the first batch was stopped at customs.

The office said the first batch was stopped by the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service in Melbourne due to improper packaging.

After negotiations between the Việt Nam Trade Office and officials in Australia, the batch was cleared by customs, despite strict measures taken by the service.

This office said it had released the requirements for longan exports on the websites of Việt Nam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Việt Nam Trade Office. However, many businesses had not paid due attention to the conditions.

Đàm Quang Thắng, general director of Agricare Việt Nam Co, Ltd which specialises in fresh fruit exports, said there had been numerous instances of Vietnamese agricultural products being returned because they did not meet the standards of importing countries. This has not only damaged businesses, but also affected the reputation of Vietnamese agricultural products.

“Việt Nam has one of the highest rate of export goods that are returned. There are many reasons for not meeting technical standards in importing countries, but the problems are mainly in the pre-processing, processing and production stages,” Thắng told the Đầu tư (Investment) newspaper.

Vietnamese agricultural products are exported to 120 countries and territories, including many key products such as rice, coffee, pepper and seafood. However, in large and fastidious markets like the European Union (EU), the US, Japan and Australia, many Vietnamese exports have been refused entry due to microbial infections and residues of veterinary drugs and heavy metals.

In the first half of this year, Japan discovered pesticide residues in excess of the permitted limits. As a result, Japan is planning to carry out closer inspections on all Vietnamese agricultural products.