Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyễn Xuân Cường visited a lychee processing line of the Ameii Vietnam JSC's farm produce processing plant in Thanh Hà District, Hải Dương Province. — VNA/VNS Photo Mạnh Minh

HẢI DƯƠNG — The northern province of Hải Dương on Monday exported the first batches of lychee to Singapore, the US and Australia.

Of which, Ameii Vietnam JSC exported the first 6.5 tonnes of lychees to Singapore while Rồng Đỏ Production, Trade and Services Co Ltd also shipped the first 20 tonnes of lychees to Australia and the US.

At the same day, a delegation led by Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyễn Xuân Cường visited a lychee cultivation area in Thanh Sơn Commune which is granted an area code to export to Japan, and the Ameii Vietnam processing plant in Thanh Xá Commune, Thanh Hà District.

Hoàng Trung, Director of the Plant Protection Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said Hải Dương has implemented many solutions for several years to receive export licences for its lychees, especially strict markets like Japan, Australia, and the US. Besides that, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government has implemented many solutions on policies and procedures to facilitate lychee exports this year.

One of the advantages for exporting lychees this year is that Australia has approved to deploy irradiation in Hà Nội for local fresh fruits, Trung said. In addition, renovation of preservation technology has also created favourable conditions in exporting the fresh fruits to other countries by sea.

For the Japanese market, Trung told Vietnam News Agency that: “The first shipment of lychees to Japan will open the door for further entering this market in the future.”

“Việt Nam will continue to negotiate with the Japanese side in transferring supervision on lychee exports from Japan's agencies to Việt Nam. That will create favourable conditions for exporting lychees to Japan as well as reduce export costs,” Trung said.

Hải Dương is now home to 9,700ha of lychee cultivation, mostly in Thanh Hà District with about 3,600ha and Chí Linh City with 3,900ha. The lychee output in Hải Dương is estimated at 45,000 tonnes this year. Meanwhile, Việt Nam expects to gain a total lychee output of about 230,000 tonnes this year.

This province estimates to have a total lychee output of 1,500 tonnes reaching Global GAP standards for export to Europe, the US, Australia, Japan and other demanding markets, according to the Hải Dương Department of Industry and Trade.

The total area of growing lychees certified as Viet GAP is over 500ha with an estimated output of 4,000 tonnes.

Meanwhile, 19 lychee cultivation areas with a total area of 170ha and a total output of 1,300 tonnes are granted area codes to export lychees to the US, Australia and EU.

Many businesses have registered to buy Hải Dương lychees for export and domestic consumption, including expected export volume of about 4,000 tonnes. Of which, the Ameii Vietnam Joint Stock Company has planned to purchase about 1,250 tonnes for domestic consumption at supermarkets and export to Singapore, Japan, Taiwan and Canada.

The Rồng Đỏ Manufacturing, Trading and Service Co, Ltd has registered to purchase 150 tonnes of lychees for export to the US, Australia, EU and the Middle East. The Bamboo International Joint Stock Company has registered to purchase 1,900 tonnes of lychees for shipment to Japan, Australia, Malaysia, Brunei and China.

The Thanh Hà Agricultural and Forestry Processing Export Company has also registered to buy 620 tonnes of lychees for export to the UK, France, Germany and South Korea.

Hải Dương expects to gain a growth rate of 30-50 per cent in exporting lychees this year compared to last year.

Phạm Thanh Hải, director of the Hải Dương Department of Industry and Trade, said in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hải Dương has also paid attention to the domestic market. Of which, the important markets include Hà Nội, HCM City, Đà Nẵng, Cần Thơ and neighbouring provinces and cities.

Hải Dương’s Thanh Hà lychees have been sold in the domestic market, especially at supermarkets, from early this month, which is the start of the lychee harvest season this year, according to the department.

They include Bác Tôm, Intimex, Metro, Co.opmart, Hapro, BigC, Vinmart and wholesale fruit markets in Hà Nội and HCM City. Besides that, the province has also planned to increase its market share of lychees at some new potential markets in the central and central highlands provinces. — VNS