Farmers take care of Thanh Hà lychee trees in Thanh Hà District, Hải Dương Province. VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Thanh Hà lychees from the northern province of Hải Dương are now officially on sale on one of Việt Nam's leading online marketplaces, Lazada, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade).

Its May 14 debut on Lazada Vietnam was supported by Vietrade in partnership with the Hải Dương Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development and Industry and Trade, and the Red Dragon Co., Ltd.

Since early April, Vietrade has helped a number of domestic e-commerce platforms connect with lychee growers and traders in Hải Dương that use quality management systems, a representative from the agency said. Lazada is the first unit to bring the fruit to an e-marketplace.

James Dong, CEO of Lazada Vietnam, said the company’s top goal is to support local enterprises and sellers in building a successful e-commerce business and it has cooperated with Vietrade to promote and sell the province’s speciality fruit.

The lychees will be delivered to online shoppers in Hà Nội and HCM City within four hours to ensure their freshness.

Lazada also plans to work with Vietrade and other partners and provinces to sell a wider range of Vietnamese specialities online.

The Red Dragon Co., meanwhile, will provide logistics, cold storage, packaging, and transportation services to guarantee top-quality lychees are delivered to consumers.

Vietrade's Director-General Vũ Bá Phu said selling agricultural products on e-commerce sites is developing as a new and sustainable way of distributing local signature products. It will also facilitate digital transformation in domestic businesses and producers and further popularise the campaign calling on Vietnamese people to prioritise using domestic products.

The lychee harvest in Hải Dương is fast approaching. The province has 9,186 ha growing the fruit this year, of which 1,000 ha has been granted VietGap certification and 50 ha GlobalGap certification.

Thanh Hà District, dubbed the “lychee capital” of Hải Dương, has 3,328ha of lychees with total output estimated at 50,000-55,000 tonnes. Some 155 ha have received area codes for export to the US, Australia, the EU, Japan, and Singapore. — VNS