Bac Giang (VNA) - The northernprovince of Bac Giang pocketed some 6.9 trillion VND (300 million USD) fromlychee and support services this year, up 600 billion VND against last year,according to local authorities.

It sold more than 164,000 tonnes of theluscious fruit from Luc Ngan, Luc Nam, Tan Yen, Yen The, Lang Giang, and SonDong districts, raking in some 5.2 trillion VND, the provincial Department ofIndustry and Trade reported.  

The average price of the fruit stood at31,200 VND per kg, compared to 31,800 VND in 2019.

In the context of the COVID-19 outbreak,Bac Giang paid greater attention to promoting domestic lychee consumption,especially in the central and southern regions. As a result, up to 52.5 percentof its lychee output was consumed domestically.

As for export, apart from traditionalmarkets such as China and the EU, Bac Giang’s lychee were also shipped to thedemanding Japanese market for the first time, with export volumes reaching some200 tonnes, helping to raise the value of the fruit.

According to Tran Quang Tan, Director ofthe department, the area of lychee grown under VietGap and GlobalGap standardsincreased from around 1,200ha in 2019 to 15,200ha this year.

The US has granted IRADS (Irradiation Reporting and AccountabilityDatabase) codes to 218ha while Japan has granted area codes to 19 areas with103ha.

Notably, the province organised an online conferenceconnecting 62 Vietnamese cities and provinces with four Chinese provinces, with2,300 delegates in attendance, in order to seek ways to promote lycheeconsumption.

Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee LaiThanh Son said Bac Giang commits to supporting domestic and foreign lycheegrowers and traders in harvesting, processing, and consumption.

An e-commerce floor for Bac Giang lychee has been launchedto diversify marketing and trade channels, as the ravaging pandemic made it virtuallyimpossible for foreign traders to come directly to the locality to buy thefruit.

More than 130 customers purchased some 2,100 tonnes oflychee via the platform, at an average price of 64,700 VND per kg.

It was a surprise that more than 8 tonnesof lychee sold out after just eight hours of being available online via MoMoe-wallet, the Saigon Union of Trading Co-operatives (Saigon Co.op) said.

The sales were part of the post-pandemic“Supporting Vietnamese Farm Produce” programme run by Saigon Co.op, MoMo, and theTuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

The online event offered MoMo usersdiscounts and delivery services when buying lychee and ST Xuan Hong rice.

In the first three hours of the programme beingopened, every customer ordered an average of 5 - 10 kg of lychee, and the figurethen later escalated to 30 - 50 kg and even to a record 90 kg.

Over the last four years, the Ministry ofAgriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has worked with Japan’s Ministry ofAgriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) to conduct testing and negotiationsto pave the way for lychee exports.

MAFF finally agreed to import lychee fromVietnam last year.

Japanese experts went to Bac Giang’s Luc Ngandistrict early on and were satisfied with the lychee growing areas granted withexport standard codes. They still had to directly supervise the process ofharvesting, preserving, and packaging of lychee to be exported to Japan,however.

Exports must be packed and treated withmethyl bromide fumigation at facilities approved by the Plant ProtectionDepartment and MAFF, with a minimum dosage of 32g per cu. m. for two hours,under the supervision of Vietnamese and Japanese plant quarantine officers./.