Vietnam’s sixth fruit shipped to U.S.

Nguyen Quang Hieu, a representative of the Plant Protection Department, said that the United States had approved mango imports from Vietnam after 10 years of negotiations starting in 2009.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development collaborated with the Dong Thap government and Chanh Thu Import-Export Company to hold a ceremony to publicize the first shipment of mangoes to the United States.

Speaking at the ceremony, Dong Thap vice chairman Nguyen Thanh Hung said that the province has large output of farm produce. With some 30,000 hectares of land used for fruit farming, the province turns out 300,000 tons of fruit a year.

Dong Thap Province has some 10,000 hectares under mango cultivation, with annual output reaching 127,000 tons, Hung said.

Hung added mango is one of the province’s five key agricultural products.

“Dong Thap Province is enhancing its focus on building product brands and applying for growing area codes,” he said, adding that in 2013, the National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam had granted the province brand recognition certificates for Cat Chu Cao Lanh and Cao Lanh mangoes.

The province currently has 301 hectares that have been awarded growing area codes, which is one of the factors behind the U.S. market’s approval of farm imports from Vietnam.

The ceremony highlighted the fact that Chanh Thu Company had acted as the exporter of the first shipment of mangoes, while the importer was Dai Tan Tropical Fruits Inc Company, and the Dong Thap-based My Xuong Mango Cooperative supplied the product.

Nguyen Thi Hong Thu, director of Chanh Thu Company, said that the firm is managing 25 codes for areas that grow a wide range of fruits, including mangoes.

In addition to the shipment to the United States, Vietnam’s mangoes are being exported to 40 foreign markets, including China, Europe, South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, Hieu noted.