Viet Nam’s first batch of pomelos was exported to the United States from southern Ben Tre Province on Monday at a ceremony organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the provincial People's Committee.

After nearly six years of negotiations, the US market is unlocked to Viet Nam's fresh pomelos. Ben Tre is the first locality to export this fruit to the US.

Nguyen Minh Canh, deputy chairman of Ben Tre Province's People's Committee, said pomelos exported to the US market need to go through a very arduous process of cultivation and preservation.

Currently, Ben Tre has an area of ​​​​9,440 hectares of pomelo (accounting for more than 34 per cent of the province's fruit cultivation area) with an annual output of nearly 90,000 tonnes. However, due to very strict export standards of the US market, the rate of pomelos qualified for export to the US is low, for example at only 10 per cent in Chau Thanh District. Therefore, the gardeners here have suggested the authority build a model of pomelo cultivation areas that meet the US standards, helping increase the rate of qualified goods to 80-90 per cent.

All pomelo batches shipped to the US will be irradiated at US-recognised irradiation establishments under the supervision of the US Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the Plant Protection Department.

Ngo Tuong Vy, general director of Chanh Thu Fruit Import-Export Group JSC, said pomelo is also grown in the United States, thus their pest control requirements are very strict. Businesses have spent a lot of time training farmers as well as changing the farming process to meet these requirements as well as improving the linkage chain.

“Chanh Thu's goal is to bring Vietnamese pomelos into US large supermarket chains such as Costco and Walmart,” Vy said.

Pomelo is the 7th fresh fruit of Viet Nam allowed to be exported to the US market, following mango, longan, lychee, dragon fruit, rambutan and star apple. — VNS