The Philippines is capable of growing jackfruit but does not do so on a commercial scale, which is why supermarkets and fast food chains in the country source their requirements from Vietnam.
Journalist Zac Sarian from the Manila Bulletin visited Vietnam last week to find out why local businessmen are buying their supplies of frozen jackfruit pulp from the country; the main reason being that they can buy all they need from just one source. In the Philippines, they simply cannot buy jackfruit pulp in bulk from one supplier. So it is more convenient for them to import.
He visited the biggest processor of jackfruit, MIT International which claims to have about 70 percent of the jackfruit supply in Vietnam. Most of the extracted pulp is frozen and exported to different countries, including the Philippines. Three classes – from A to C – are exported and average price in Vietnam is US$1,700 per ton.
Nick Trinh, managing director of MIT International, said they process about 20 container loads of jackfruit pulp each week.
New technology called IQF or Instant Quick Freeze could add further value to jackfruit and other agricultural commodities. The IQF technology can freeze fruits or vegetables in a matter of three to four minutes compared to the more than one hour needed in blast freezing.
The result of IQF is that the commodity remains fresh and crunchy after thawing. The same technology is reportedly now being used in the Philippines, which is quick-freezing sliced bananas for export to Europe. The IQF technology can now transform the “reject” bananas for export in the Philippines (either too big or too small, or with some other defects) into exportable product.
If the IQF technology could be applied to jackfruit in Vietnam, the product could fetch a much higher price in the market because of its freshness.
