Quality of fruit exported to U.S. needs special attention

A farmer attends to his star apples. Recent fruit exports to the United States have become easier, especially since the first shipment of Vietnam-grown star apples in late 2017 - Photo: Trung Chanh

CAN THO – Recent fruit exports to the United States have become easier, especially since the first shipment of Vietnam’s star apples in late 2017. However, exporters should pay special attention to product quality, otherwise they would face a dear price.

After a long period for negotiations, key Vietnamese fruits, including dragon fruit, longan, mango, litchi and star apple, have made their way to demanding markets such as Taiwan, Japan, Chile, New Zealand, and the U.S., said Le Van Thiet, deputy head of the Plant Protection Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

After a decade of talks, the first batch of Vietnam-grown star apples has been shipped to America, Thiet noted at a meeting on the farming and sale of fruits with the government of Can Tho City on March 8.

A ceremony on the first shipment of star apples into the U.S. was held last December, recalled Thiet, adding that a total of 134 such shipments weighing around 230 tons have arrived stateside. “The result is beyond our expectations,” he said.

Having been authorized by the American authorities concerned, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has asked the Plant Protection Department to issue 18 codes of star apple-farming areas, with 16 in Tien Giang Province and two in Can Tho City.

Thiet said the U.S. has agreed to import Vietnam-grown mangos, with the first batch scheduled to be shipped next month.

Nguyen Dinh Tung, director of Vina T&T Co Ltd, said American consumers in some places are willing to pay US$100 for a half kilo of star apples. Some supermarkets there even sell the fruit at certain hours only, meaning the scarcity of this fruit in the U.S.

However, Tung said, some star apples shipped to the U.S. were discovered with fruit fly larvae inside.

If star apples are of poor quality, consumers may think of them as substandard products, he stressed, adding that some measures should be taken in a timely manner.

Ngo Tuong Vy, deputy director of Chanh Thu Fruit Import and Export Co Ltd in Ben Tre Province, said though many partners want to order a large number of star apple shipments, her company has declined such offers. The reason is that if this kind of fruit is affected by fruit fly, the risk of affecting the next crop will be quite high.

“So we have temporarily decided not to sign more such contracts,” she said, noting that fruit growers in the coded areas should cover their star apples early in order to prevent further fruit fly outbreaks.

Outbound sales of vegetables and fruit in the first quarter of the year are expected to reach US$321 million, a year-on-year rise of 36.9%, according to a Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development report.