After nearly 6 years of negotiating the registration of pomelo export to the United States, this market has now officially imported Vietnam's fresh pomelos. Ben Tre is the first locality to export pomelo to this market.

Exporting the first batch of pomelos to the US market

In the context of the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, the output of agricultural products in general and grapefruit in particular is extremely difficult. The fact that Vietnamese pomelos were accepted for official export to the US market has brought excitement to farmers and businesses operating in this field.

Ms. Ngo Tuong Vy - General Director of Chanh Thu Fruit Import-Export Group Joint Stock Company - shared that pomelo is one of the fruits grown in the United States. Therefore, the requirements for pest control are very strict. Therefore, businesses also take a lot of time to train farmers as well as change the farming process. Our next work needs to perfect the link chain. In the coming time, Chanh Thu's goal is to bring pomelos into large supermarket chains such as Costco and Walmart.

According to the Plant Protection Department ( Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development ), the United States is a large potential market for fresh flowers for export of Vietnam. Each year, the demand for fruit in the United States is up to 12 million tons. The country's domestic fresh fruit production can only meet 70% of the demand, the remaining 30% (equivalent to about 3.6 million tons) must be imported.

In addition, Vietnam currently has 105.4 thousand hectares of pomelo growing, with an output of nearly 905 thousand tons, with diverse pomelo varieties, typical for each region. Particularly, the Mekong Delta has about 32 thousand hectares, with an output of about 369 thousand tons... This is a huge space and opportunity for Vietnamese fruit in general and fresh pomelo in particular to approach the US market. .

The opening of the US market for Vietnamese pomelos also helps to increase the overall price and consumption of Ben Tre. This is the motivation for farmers to focus on cultivating pomelo pomelos that are qualified for export in the near future.

However, due to very strict export standards to the US market. Recently, as in Chau Thanh district, Ben Tre province, the standard purchasing rate to the US was only 10%. Therefore, the gardeners here also suggested the functional sectors to build a model of pomelo cultivation points that meet the standards for export to the United States. Thereby, scaling up to help raise the rate of qualified goods to 80-90% when purchasing pomelos for export to this market.

Currently, Ben Tre has an area of 9,440 hectares of pomelo (accounting for more than 34% of the province's fruit tree area), the annual output reaches nearly 90,000 tons. The province's agricultural sector has coordinated with relevant units to advocate for the establishment and consolidation of a green-skinned pomelo chain with 32 cooperative groups and 9 cooperatives with 1,467 participating households with a total area of 542.65 hectares. Initially, the province has formed 18 linkage chains to consume products of cooperative groups and cooperatives.

Mr. Nguyen Minh Canh - Vice Chairman of Ben Tre Provincial People's Committee - said that pomelo being exported to the US market is a very arduous process that requires a very hard cultivation and preservation process.

Therefore, in the long term, the production process of pomelo cultivation needs to be changed. In the immediate future, it is necessary to coordinate with the Agriculture and Rural Development and Science and Technology sectors in guiding farmers in the production process to increase the percentage of standard pomelos in the garden as well as ensure the safety of epidemics. diseases, food safety and hygiene and farmers' health.

According to the Plant Protection Department, if you want to export fruit to the US market, you must meet 3 main standards, including: The growing area meets the standards and is authorized by the US side to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The Plant Protection Department issues the planting area code; the packing plant must be assigned a code by a US expert; The product must be irradiated at a factory with a standard code number.

Up to now, the Plant Protection Department has been coordinating with relevant parties to implement synchronous solutions, especially focusing on training pomelo producers and exporters on import requirements of the United States. Ky.

At the same time, localities are also actively coordinating with the Plant Protection Department to set up area codes for growing green pomelos exported to the US for businesses, cooperatives, cooperative groups and farmers. , ready for the export of green-skinned pomelo from Vietnam to the United States.

According to experts, the first batch of fresh pomelos exported from Vietnam to the US market demonstrates the prestige, quality and professionalism of producers, exporters and regulatory agencies in meeting the food safety and phytosanitary requirements of one of the most demanding markets.

However, opening the US market and exporting Vietnam's first batch of pomelos to the US is just the beginning. In order for Vietnam's fresh pomelos to gain market share in the "Land of Flag" market, units, organizations, individuals and businesses that export pomelos to the United States must quickly deploy and fully comply. Vietnamese regulations and US import requirements. At the same time, jointly coordinate and promote Vietnam's pomelo export in general and export to the US in particular in order to bring high economic value to all parties involved in the production - export chain.