Hung Yen longan ready to conquer the Japanese market

At this time, longan growing areas in Hung Yen province are entering the harvest season. Notably, many cooperatives that have been granted growing area codes are ready to export longan to foreign markets.

Hung Yen province currently has over 4,600 hectares of longan; of which over 30% of the area is produced according to VietGAP and GlobalGAP processes, with an average output of over 46,000 tons.

Up to now, Hung Yen province has 2 longan growing areas granted export codes to the Japanese market belonging to the Quang Chau Longan Cooperative, Hung Yen city, with an area of ​​27.2 hectares, estimated output of 350 tons/year, meeting the process of establishing and monitoring growing areas (TTCS 774:2020/BVTV).

Deputy Director of the Quang Chau Longan Cooperative Nguyen Van Biet shared that the greatest wish of the cooperative members is to find a stable source of product consumption at a reasonable price, helping members gain great economic value from longan trees.

Therefore, members of the cooperative are always proactive in learning, researching and applying science and technology, advanced production and cultivation processes, registering growing area codes, and are ready to bring Hung Yen longan products to serve domestic and foreign consumers.

Up to now, the cooperative's output of longan fruit grown for export to the Japanese market has reached an average of 350 tons/year, meeting the process of establishing and monitoring growing areas.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Biet, with a demanding market like Japan, the cooperative has required members to strictly follow the production process, prioritize the use of organic fertilizers and biological pesticides, and meet the quarantine period before harvest to ensure food safety and hygiene.

"We believe that the longan products of the Guangzhou Longan Cooperative can be successfully exported to the Japanese market. From there, it will expand opportunities for Hung Yen longan to penetrate other potential markets," said Mr. Nguyen Van Biet.

At this time, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Hung Yen province has organized food safety monitoring sampling for the longan area serving export of the Guangzhou Longan Cooperative. The result is that 100% of the indicators meet the requirements, ready for export.

This year, the quality and productivity of longan of the Guangzhou Longan Cooperative are rated higher than last year because members have been proactive in applying science and technology in cultivation, applying the process of managing agricultural product quality according to VietGAP standards.

Identifying Japan as a large, potential market, with goods eligible for export to this market, meaning that they can be exported to many other potential markets in the world, Hung Yen province has focused on applying scientific and technological advances to create quality products that meet the strictest standards to serve the Japanese market, especially fresh longan.

Director of the Department of Industry and Trade of Hung Yen province Vu Quang Thang shared that Japan is a country famous for its strict standards for goods and products, especially for imported food and fruits. This is a difficult market, but if conquered and successfully penetrated, it will create great prestige for the product to expand to other international markets.

Therefore, Hung Yen province determined that Hung Yen longan has penetrated some important international markets such as the US and Australia, so it is necessary to conquer the Japanese market to expand opportunities to conquer the world market.

To realize this goal, the People's Committee of Hung Yen province has directed the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to coordinate with the People's Committees of districts, towns and cities to review, evaluate and restructure longan varieties and longan growing areas, promote the application of science and technology and advanced farming processes in production to improve product quality.

At the same time, the People's Committee of Hung Yen province also approved the Project on trade promotion for exporting longan and processed products from longan to the Japanese market in the period of 2021-2025; identifying key tasks and solutions, both ensuring product quality to meet the requirements of the Japanese market and promoting, introducing and connecting reputable businesses and traders exporting fruits and vegetables to Japan to soon introduce Hung Yen longan to Japanese consumers.

In addition, the Department will organize live-streamed events to promote longan products and typical agricultural products of the province on social networking platforms; at the same time, continue to promote agricultural product consumption channels through e-commerce platforms; maintain sales channels through a chain of safe stores and supermarkets; create supply-demand connections between businesses and cooperatives and gardeners.

In addition, the Department continues to coordinate with specialized sectors and localities to continue guiding households to comply with and apply good agricultural production processes, harvesting, preservation and packaging techniques according to the requirements of agricultural product collection, processing, consumption and export centers, ensuring product quality.

According to Mr. Nguyen Duc Hung, Director of Global Food Import-Export Joint Stock Company, although the province has a large longan growing area, concentrated longan production areas (over 20 hectares) have not yet been formed.

Currently, the longan growing area in Hung Yen is mainly intercropped gardens in households, which has created a weakness because the quality of longan fruit is not uniform, because each household's garden is cared for differently.

Therefore, in order for Hung Yen longan to conquer the international market, the first thing Hung Yen must do is create a large-scale, concentrated raw material area./.