For 2020, Japan has officially opened the door to Vietnamese lychees, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD). The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan informed the MARD’s Plant Protection Department of its opening market for Vietnamese “thieu” lychee associated with regulations on plant quarantine in late December 2019.
This means lychee is the fourth fresh Vietnamese fruit, after dragon fruit, mango, and banana, that is allowed to be imported into the Japanese market - one of the world’s most demanding markets in regards to quality standards and food hygiene and safety.
This is a great opportunity to stabilise the production and consumption of lychee while reducing the oversupply during peak harvesting times.
However, many stricter requirements are set for our country's lychee growing areas, especially for main lychee hubs such as Hai Duong and Bac Giang, to change their production methods to properly and fully meet the most stringent standards of the Japanese market.
