Lo Pang bananas, grown in the highlands of the Lo Pang commune, in Gia Lai province, are now officially being sold at Lotte Mart chain in the Republic of Korea. The Vietnamese Embassy there, coordinating with Lotte Mart, held a promotional event to introduce the Vietnamese banana at the Lotte Mart near Seoul Station on the morning of June 16.
Lotte Mart is expected to import approximately 1,600 tonnes of the Vietnamese banana each year to distribute to its 81 supermarkets across the South Korea. The Vietnamese banana has been exported since 2014 but has yet to be brought to large supermarket chains like Lotte Mart.
About 180 tonnes of banana worth US$132,000 was exported to Korea in 2015 and the volume was raised to 6,685 tonnes worth US$4.2 million in 2019. The Vietnamese banana is anticipated to have room to increase its market segment as Korea spends over US$300 million each year on importing bananas.
The Philippines is the largest banana exporter to the nation, accounting for 78.6%. It is followed by Ecuador (7.7%), Guatemala (5.2%), Peru (5%), Mexico (1.6%) and Vietnam (1.4%).
