All watermelon growing areas and packaging facilities must be registered and approved by both the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the General Administration of Customs of China before exporting to this market.
During the visit to Vietnam of the General Secretary, Chinese President Xi Jinping from December 12 to 13, the MARD of Vietnam and the General Administration of Customs of China signed the “Protocol on phytosanitary requirements for fresh watermelons exported from Vietnam to China”.
The signing of the above Protocol is an important step in promoting the official export of Vietnam‘s traditional agricultural products and standardizing regulations on agricultural exports between the two countries.
The average annual value of watermelon exports to China is about 50 million USD.
The Protocol clearly defines the import requirements from the Chinese side to ensure that Vietnam’s fresh watermelons comply with China’s food hygiene and safety regulations as well as phytosanitary standards, thereby creating a basis for compliance of Vietnam’s producers, packaging facilities, and exporters.
All watermelon growing areas and packaging facilities must be registered and approved by both the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the General Administration of Customs of China before exporting to this market.
In addition, Vietnam’s watermelons will be imported through all Chinese border gates which are approved by the General Administration of Customs of China to import fruit.
“The application of this Decree in practice is a step forward in the policy of the Ministry. We must standardize the industries to serve the export of agricultural products, not only fresh watermelon of Vietnam but also fresh fruit industries. Both pre-processing and processing industries must be standardized. In addition to the Chinese market, we need to export to many other markets”, said Dr. Ngo Xuan Nam, Deputy Director of SPS Vietnam Office, MARD.
Up to now, 162 watermelon growing areas and more than 1,000 packaging facilities in 38 provinces have been granted codes to export watermelons to China. On average, the export value of this item to China is about 50 million USD per year./.