The southern province of Tien Giang has proposed that the management overseeing the quality of star apples exported to the United States (US) be enhanced. This will help protect the fruit’s brand, as well as the prestige of Vietnamese agricultural products.

After getting a green light from the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) for the export of star apples to the US in October, Tien Giang shipped dozens of tonnes of this fruit to this country, and received good responses from the US consumers initially. The first shipment arrived at the US in late December.

Still, the management overseeing the plantation and quality of star apples must be improved to protect the fruit brand, according to the province.

Thus, Tien Giang Province proposed to the ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Industry and Trade to enhance the market study and quality control of star apples exported to the US to provide market updates and orientation to exporting firms.

The province said, as of mid-January, four companies registered a code for exporting star apples to the US.

Tien Giang has the largest area of some 3,100ha to grow star apples in Viet Nam.

Viet Nam has some 5,000ha of star apples with an annual output of more than 60,000 tonnes.

This type of fruit was mainly sold in the domestic market and exported to China and the ASEAN markets.

Exporting to the US marked a breakthrough, as this is a strict market with high quality requirements.

Besides star apples, Viet Nam has exported dragon fruit, rambutan, lychee and longhan to the US. — VNS