On June 20, a consignment of fresh lychees from the 2023 crop from Bac Giang province landed in Houston in the US. Soon after the arrival, the lychees hit the shelves of large supermarkets, including brands Hong Kong, Tan Binh, Viet Hoa, Linda’s Tropical Fruits and Ca Mau.

At the supermarkets, the lychees retail at $14-15 per pound, or VND780,000 per kilogram, or $140 per 11 pound (5 kilogram) bag, or VND3.2 million (VND640,000 per kilogram).

Previously, Vietnam’s lychees were sold in the US as frozen fruit. In 2020, Vietnam’s Trade Office could see the high demand for fresh lychee and connected importers/exporters of the two countries, and worked with APHIS (US Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service) on exporting fresh lychees to the market.

In late May, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) of Vietnam said that APHIS recognized one more plant as meeting requirements for radiation of Vietnam’s fresh fruits for export to the US, paving the way for fresh lychees to reach the US market.

Jolie Nguyen, CEO of LNS International Corporation, a lychee importer, said LNS would continue cooperating with its partners to import, distribute and transport Vietnam’s farm produce, including lychees to various states of the US this month. 

In early June, a consignment of Vietnam’s u hong lychee (the commercial name is Golden Lychees “Fruit of luck” in Australia) was imported by TT Meridian to the UK. This was Vietnam’s first full-tax export consignment of lychee to the UK this year.

Vietnam’s lychees have relatively high selling prices in the UK, 15 pounds per kilogram, or VND435,000, compared with the products of the same kind and other imported fruits.

In mid-June, Ho Guom-Song Am Hi-tech Agriculture exported seedless lychees to Japan and the UK. Analysts said in Japan, lychees are selling 4,500-5,000 yen per kilogram, or VND750,000-840,000 per kilogram.

According to Huynh Tan Dat from MARD, 17 consignments, or 82 tons of lychees, have been certified as meeting the requirements to be exported to Japan, where the products sell at VND400,000-550,000 per kilogram.

Prior to that, on June 15, the Vietnam Trade Office in Japan joined forces with some enterprises and brought 30 businesspeople and representatives of Japanese companies to Hai Duong and Bac Giang, to survey the two biggest lychee farming areas and discuss the plans to collect lychees for export.

Nguyen Khac Tien from Ameii Vietnam predicted that the lychee exports of his company would increase by 30-50 percent compared with the same period last year.

Vietnam’s lychees are present in over 30 markets.

Tam An