Thieu lychees grown in Luc Ngan (Photo: VGP/Do Huong)

Farmers in Co Noi commune in Son La province’s Mai Son district are busy harvesting and selecting the best mangoes from their orchards for export to the US.  The selected oblong mangoes weigh up to 1.2 kilo each. Mai Son will export 40 tons of these mangoes to the US. Phạm Van Hung is one of the mango growers in Co Noi commune.

"We strictly adhere to the VietGAP standards during the growing process to ensure that each mango has the best possible quality. Local farmers are very excited to be exporting so many mangoes to the US, a market with very high standards and requirements, during this Covid-19 epidemic," said Hung.

There are 2,600 hectares of mangoes in Mai Son district, of which 2000 hectares follow the VietGAP standards, producing 14,000 tons of mangoes annually. In early June 30 tons of mangoes were exported to China. In comparison, 100 tons of mangoes are consumed inside Vietnam every day. Dinh Kim Nhung of the Kim Nhung Dong Thap Company, which buys mangoes for export, told VOV: "The mango harvesting season is different between Son La and Dong Thap. In Dong Thap, in southern Vietnam, we can harvest between September and April, while Son La’s harvest time is between May and July. Son La has perfect weather for growing mangoes of very high quality."

The northern province of Bac Giang exports tons of fresh lychees to Japan. Đỗ Linh Nhâm, Deputy General Director of the Globe Company, says exporting fresh lychee Japan is a milestone in establishing Vietnamese agricultural products as a global brand.

"We’ve been exporting processed fruits and vegetables to Japan but this is the first time we’ve sold fresh lychees in the Japanese market. This marks a milestone in the effort of the Vietnamese government and farmers to promote Vietnamese fruits, lychees in particular, to world markets," said Nham. 

Japanese experts in Bac Giang province supervise the process of sterilizing and packaging fresh lychees destined for Japan. Vietnam expects to export 200 tons of fresh lychees to foreign markets this year.