In recent days, the market has been “hot” by the appearance of seedless lychee grown in Thanh Hoa province. Even, this type of fruit has been sold to Japan and the UK at the price of nearly one million VND/kg.
Seedless lychee variety was imported from abroad. When ripening, the skin color of lychee is bright red while the flesh inside is juicy, crispy, and sweet. The advantage of this variety is that it is grown under strict standards, so the sugar rate is low, which it is suitable for diabetics while the microelement is three times higher than normal lychee.
The demand for seedless lychee is high both at home and abroad.
GOOD TASTE AND RARE MAKE IT PRECIOUS
For the domestic market, if lychee usually costs about 40,000 – 50,000 VND/kg, the seedless variety can cost up to 280,000 – 450,000 VND/kg (depending on the packaging, quantity, and size of lychee). Mr. Nguyen Van Hue, CEO of Ho Guom – Song Am Hi-Tech Agriculture Co., Ltd., said: This is the first harvest of the seedless lychee with an output of only 15-20 tons. “We are picking lychees and there are only about three days left before the end of this year’s harvest,” he said.
In particular, the company is distributing lychee by boxes, such as a special box sold at 800,000 VND/box (200 boxes only), two kg boxes at 550,000 VND/box one kg boxes 280,000 VND/box. and 500-gram boxes at 148,000 VND/box. “This price can be considered high compared to traditional lychee. However, it is reasonable when comparing the quality of seedless lychee with other imported fruits,” a representative of the company said.
According to a survey, seedless lychee is sold out in Ho Chi Minh City and only a few high-end fruit stores sell this item. Mrs. Nguyen Ngoc Huyen, Director of Mia Fruit Company, said that in previous years, the company imported seedless lychee from Japan to sell at 990,000 VND/200 grams. “Currently, the store is selling seedless lychee grown in Thanh Hoa and customers are very interested in them. Each day, we can retail 50-100kg,” a representative of Mia Fruit Company said.
The order for seedless lychee is very large while the supply is not enough to distribute to supermarket systems or retail stores.
On June 16, Vietnam’s first shipment of 600kg seedless lychee was launched in the UK market, becoming the fourth Vietnamese specialty fruit, after Tan Lac red grapefruit, Dien Yen Thuy grapefruit, and Cao Phong orange (Hoa Binh) to be officially exported to this difficult market in 2023. According to Mr. Thai Tran, Managing Director of TT Meridian, a company specializing in distributing lychee and Vietnamese agricultural products in the UK, the retail price of seedless lychee is about 16 – 18 pounds/kg (equal to about 480,000 – 540,000 VND) and higher than normal lychee from 3 – 4 pounds.
The result of the quality inspection showed that the product has a characteristic sweet taste of lychee, juicy, crispy, and especially seedless, which is suitable for British and European consumers. Although the price is quite high, TT Meridian Company still decided to test the import of this specialty fruit to assess market demand. If the quality and price of Vietnamese seedless lychee are well welcomed by the UK market, Meridian TT Company will import about one ton of lychee each week in June and July.
Mr. Nguyen Duy Ninh, General Director of Ho Guom Group’s Service Division, said that a shipment of lychee has been exported to Japan with a volume of 500 kg. Besides, another distributor of seedless lychee of Ho Guom Group has also exported a shipment of more than 100 kg from Vietnam to Japan through The Domino Joint Stock Company (Tokyo) for distribution in supermarkets in Japan. According to a survey in the Japanese market, seedless lychee is being sold for 4,500 – 5,000 yen/kg, equal to 750,000 – 840,000 VND/kg./.