Luc Ngan District in the northern province of Bac Giang enjoyed a rich lychee harvest this year, a boon for farmers with lychee prices at a record high.
This year’s lychee production decreased from 2016 but the current average selling price is VND10,000 (44 US cents) higher than last year, said Nguyen Van Hieu, head of Dong Cong hamlet, Luc Ngan district’s Tan Moc commune.
“Household gardens in the hamlet sell a kilogramme of lychee for VND30,000 to 45,000,” Hieu told Vietnam News Agency, adding that lychee growers in Dong Cong Hamlet expected to earn revenue of VND250 million to VND300 million from selling lychee.
Lychee harvest season begins in May and ends in July every year. During the peak season, in Ha Noi, hundreds of trucks and motorcycles carrying lychee from Bac Giang flock to markets, filling the city with red, ripe lychees.
In Ha Noi, lychee prices vary because there are many lychee types from many localities. Luc Ngan lychee is priced at VND54,000 per kilogramme with stems and leaves, and VND68,000 per kilogramme without them and packed in a net bag.
When the lychee season began, prices fluctuated daily and trended higher than last year, Ha, a fruit shop owner in Ha Noi’s Kim Nguu Street said, adding that some people spent VND80,000 for a kilogramme of lychee to worship ancestors.
In some fruit shops, lychee is sold at VND108,000 to VND120,000 per kilogramme. However, when the season comes to its peak, the prices will fall to about VND60,000 per kilogramme, Ha said.
According to Nguyen Thi Hoa, a Fivimart supermarket worker, the difference in the price of lychee depends on the type of fruit. Many cheap lychees cost VND15,000 to 25,000 per kilogramme and are usually sold by street vendors, Hoa said.
To promote Luc Ngan lychee, Bac Giang Province’s Industry and Trade Department together with Luc Ngan District’s People’s Committee, Ha Noi’s Industry and Trade Department and Big C Supermarket organised the 2017 Luc Ngan–Bac Giang Lychee Week, which began at Big C Thang Long Supermarket in Ha Noi last week.
At the opening ceremony of the event, which will last through June 23, Nguyen Thanh Binh, chairman of Luc Ngan District People’s Committee, said this year, lychee production in the district was estimated at 60,000 tonnes, down 25,000 to 30,000 tonnes compared with 2016.
Although production had decreased over the previous year, due to proper care and techniques, the quality of lychee was much improved, boosting the selling price, Binh said.
Increase export
Tran Quang Tan, director of the Bac Giang Province’s Industry and Trade Department said Bac Giang lychees are cultivated in a concentrated lychee-growing area, using VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards, ensuring clean produce that meet food safety and hygiene requirements. Therefore, the lychee can be exported to markets such as the EU, the US and Australia.
The seminar heard that today, a container of Luc Ngan lychees will be exported to Thailand, helping Vietnamese lychees approach this market, especially when tariff barriers are lifted under the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community.
As reported by cafef.vn on June 19, a representative of the Customs Department of the northern mountainous province of Lang Son said that a shipment of fresh lychees was sent to China through the Tan Thanh Border Gate on May 14.
As of June 16, the department has certified 7,365 tonnes of fresh lychee for export to China, with an average of 300-400 tonnes of fresh lychee shipped every day.
Border guard forces work with custom officers to help lychee carriers so the fruit can be transported abroad quickly, the representative said.
According to Bac Giang Province’s Department of Industry and Trade, many Chinese traders have completed procedures to purchase Luc Ngan lychees.
These traders together with the Vietnamese traders opened some 150 lychee selling points in China. A kilogramme of lychee sold in China fetches from VND35,000 to VND57,000. — VNS