A shipment of Vietnamese lychees has been shipped to France that is expected to be available at the Asia supermarket chain in Paris soon.

The first batch of lychee was exported to France. Photo: Kinhtedothi

The fresh fruit is grown by farmers in Thanh Ha District, a lychee growing hub in the northern province of Hai Duong. It is exported by the Red Dragon Production Trading Service Co., Ltd.

This shipment of lychee is tagged with the origin tracing stamp “itrace247”, not only building up a chain from farm to home, but also improving the prestige of Vietnamese products in the international market.

Vu Anh Son, Head of the Vietnam Trade Office in France, told Vietnam News Agency that the Covid-19 pandemic posed difficulties for the business matching, preventing clients from checking the fruit samples and inspecting growing areas and quality of the fruit.   

“Thanks to active negotiations between Vietnam’s agencies and French partners via online meeting platform, the deal has been sealed,” Son said.

Director of the Trade Promotion Agency Vu Ba Phu said that the French market is of great potential for Vietnamese lychees consumption of 20,000 to 25,000 tons per year. France is Vietnam’s second-largest lychee importer after the Netherlands.

Phu said his agency would coordinate with the Vietnam Trade Office in France and other Vietnamese trade offices in the EU countries to conduct promotional programs for Vietnamese lychees and other farm produces in the EU.

Another 10 tons of Vietnamese lychees are scheduled to be exported to France by sea and air in 2022.

More than ten tons of lychees from Hai Duong and Bac Giang provinces were exported to Japan, Singapore, and the EU in May.