Farmers in Tan Yen District, Bac Giang Province harvest lychees. — VNA/VNS Photo Duong Tri

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — As the first containers of Viet Nam's lychees have been shipped to the US and Australia, the country will continue expanding fruit exports to other markets, such as the EU.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh made this statement at a press meeting in Ha Noi yesterday.

Anh noted that it almost took five to eight years to bring fruits and vegetable to world markets. Lychee took 14 years to penetrate the two countries, which have strict quality requirements.

"Viet Nam's markets will require further efforts from the country's exporters to build their image and promote marketing activities," he said, adding that the first cargo has also proved the efforts of businesses to seek markets, as well as their struggle to enhance product quality.

However, he said the main lychee consumption of around 200,000 tonnes this year would still rely on the local market and export to China which accounted for 60 per cent of the total.

The deputy minister forecast that this year's consumption will be similar or slightly higher than that of last year.

"One of the difficult tasks is to improve the quality of our lychee so that they can surpass certain technical barriers in developed countries," he noted.

The ministry will continue taking measures to encourage lychee consumption by connecting purchasing enterprises with farmers.

Recently, the ministry tied up with northern Lang Son Province to build a 143-ha transit area with a total investment of VND986 billion to ease the accumulation of agricultural products at border gates. The area is also expected to improve the export of agricultural products, especially seasonal items.

No power shortage

Answering questions on electricity shortage, the deputy minister confirmed there would be no shortage in the hot season.

Supporting the minister's view, Dinh The Phuc, deputy director of the Electricity Regulatory Authority of Viet Nam (ERAV), pointed out that the prolonged hot weather earlier this year saw power consumption during the first five months of the year surging by 13.56 per cent over the same period last year.

While average daily power consumption rose by 17 per cent, Ha Noi's daily consumption increased by 28 per cent compared with the previous month.

"It was one of the reasons that led to overloading in some areas in the northern region," Phuc said.

He added that the ERAV is required to stop all repair works in the power sector if temperature rises over 36 degree Celsius so that the people will not have to suffer.

In addition, he also urged the people to save power to avoid overloading and ensure the safety of high-voltage power grids.

The electricity output in the five months was estimated at 61.1 billion kWh, posting an 11.3 per cent year-on-year increase.

The power consumption of the construction sector rose by 9.37 per cent; hotels and restaurants 12.79 per cent; households 9.53 per cent; and that of the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries sector increased by 5.79 per cent.

Total production in the power sector in recent hot days reached 25,000MW.

Vo Van Quyen, director of the ministry's Domestic Market Department, said they would review the situation to reduce retail fuel prices or the utilisation of petroleum price stabilisation fund in the next three days if prices in the world market continue to decrease. — VNS