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First batch of Vietnamese litchi to be exported to U.S. on May 30

Xinhua, May 27, 2015 Adjust font size:

The first shipments of Vietnamese litchi are expected to be exported to the United States on May 30, a Vietnamese official said here on Wednesday.

Nguyen Huu Dat, director of the Post-Import Plant Quarantine Center, Plant Protection Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) told the state-run news agency VNA on Wednesday.

On June 10, the first shipments of Vietnamese litchi will be exported to Australia, said Dat, adding that local companies will boost exports of litchi to the two new markets.

Earlier, the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service ( APHIS) has identified radiation dose on Vietnam's fresh litchi before exporting to the United States, said Dat.

Litchi, famous for its succulent taste, is specialties in Vietnam's Bac Giang, some 50 km north of capital Hanoi and Hai Duong, some 50 km east of capital Hanoi.

Meanwhile, Hoang Trung, deputy head of MARD's Plant Protection Department, said litchi-exporting companies have arrived at Bac Giang to sign contracts with farmers who are granted code to export litchi to the United States.

The department is inviting the U.S. and Australian experts to examine the first litchi shipments at the radiation factory, said Trung.

Currently, there are four Vietnamese companies joining litchi business to export to the United States and Australia while many others export the fruit to the European Union and China.

According to Trung, the penetration of Vietnamese litchi into the United States and Australia will be a push for local farmers to grow the product with higher standard, and is expected to open new opportunities for the fruit to reach other markets in the future.

The total harvested output of litchi in the largest litchi growing localities of Bac Giang and Hai Duong provinces is likely to hit 200,000 tons in 2015, said MARD.

Some 60 percent or 120,000 tons will be consumed domestically and the remaining 80,000 tons will be left for exports.

In the past year, the Chinese market consumed as many as 90 percent of Vietnamese exported litchi.

Vietnam earned nearly 1.5 billion U.S. dollars from fruit and vegetable exports in 2014, according to Vietnam Fruit and Vegetables Association. Endi