Bac Giang adds 12 more Thieu lychee growing area codes for export

Bac Giang Sub-Department of Plant Protection and Crop Production (under the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development) has recently informed that the Plant Protection Department (MARD) has just granted 12 more growing area codes for Bac Giang’s Thieu lychee, ready to export to Australia and Thailand.

Accordingly, 9 Thieu lychee growing area codes for export to Australia, covering a total area of more than 117.5 ha, are granted for households in the communes of Phi Dien, Kien Lao, Quy Son (Luc Ngan district); Dong Huu, Dong Vuong, Canh Nau (Yen The district) and Phuc Hoa (Tan Yen district). These are the first groups of households to be granted a code to export Thieu lychee to this market. The 3 other codes with a total area of 42 ha serving exports to Thailand were granted to the Thieu lychee production group in the villages of Thi, Trung and Tan Long (Tan Trung commune, Tan Yen district).

Thus, after the 12 growing area codes were granted new, the province now has 19 codes for Thieu lychee growing areas in service of exports to the Thai market and 9 codes for the Australian market. Along with these codes, the province has 110 growing area codes for exporting Thieu lychee to the Chinese market covering an area of more than 16,000 ha, 37 codes for exports to Japan (more than 297.4 ha), and 15 codes for exports to the USA (more than 184.2 ha).

In addition to the 12 newly issued codes, the Plant Protection Department also transferred information on 11 Thieu lychee growing area codes to specialized agencies in the USA and China for review and assessment.

According to Bac Giang Department of Industry and Trade, in 2023, the province's total Thieu lychee area is 29,700 ha (an increase of 1,400 ha compared to 2022). Output is estimated at more than 180,000 tons, of which safe lychees following VietGAP standards are approximately 113,800 tons, and lychees produced according to GlobalGAP standards are approximately 1,000 tons.

It is expected that Thieu lychee will soon be harvested from May 25 to June 15, and the main lychee season is from June 10 to July 30. The output of lychee for domestic consumption is estimated at 81,000 tons (accounting for 45%), and the rest is for export.

Currently, there are many Chinese businesses and traders promoting lychee consumption agreements with Bac Giang.

Bac Giang Department of Industry and Trade and Central Retail Vietnam recently signed a cooperation agreement on connecting trade, promoting consumption of Thieu lychee as well as other key agricultural products which are the province’s signature. Accordingly, in 2023 Central Retail Vietnam will consume approximately 300 tons of Thieu lychee and 2,000 tons of other agricultural products and foods from Bac Giang.

More than 200 Chinese traders have also registered to enter Vietnam with the goal of visiting Bac Giang to participate in monitoring the raw material area and sign contracts for purchasing and consuming Thieu lychee. After two rounds of dossier approval, the list of those Chinese traders was sent by the Bac Giang Provincial Police to the Immigration Department (Ministry of Public Security) to carry out the immigration procedures. It is expected that Chinese traders will come to Bac Giang at the end of May to promote the consumption of early ripe Thieu lychee.

On May 16, Central Retail Vietnam and Bac Giang Provincial People's Committee held the signing ceremony of a cooperation agreement on the consumption of Thieu lychee in 2023.

According to the cooperation agreement, Bac Giang Department of Industry and Trade will provide full information about the production and trading units of Bac Giang’s signature agricultural products to Central Retail Vietnam to organize connection and consumption after Central Retail Vietnam Group has selected production and trading units qualified for the conditions and needs of the enterprise.

On the side of Central Retail Vietnam, the enterprise will carry out many activities to promote the consumption of Thieu lychee in Bac Giang in 2023, for example: providing information, guiding local businesses, cooperatives, and suppliers on the conditions, procedures and papers to put products into consumption at the Central Retail’s supermarket system, etc.