VN ships first batch of dragon fruit to Australia
VN ships first batch of dragon fruit to Australia
Viet Nam shipped its first batch of dragon fruit to Australia on Wednesday, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) said during an event held in the Hoang Phat Fruit Company Ltd, Long An Province.
The company’s director, Nguyen Khac Huy, said the first batch of 300 tonnes of dragon fruits would be shipped by air to Australia. After this shipment, more orders were expected, which would be transported by sea at a lower price.
The fruit, which has been qualified for export, has no residue of pesticides and some eight to 12 fruits are contained in a 5kg box. The produce must be free of insects and diseases, and must not have contaminant pollutants.
Viet Nam is the first and the only country currently licensed by Australia to export the dragon fruit to it after many years of negotiations. In late August, Australia officially approved the import of Vietnamese dragon fruit, even as Viet Nam gave permission to import cherries from Australia.
The dragon fruit exported to Australia must have been cultivated in good farming areas, which will be inspected by the MARD’s Plant Protection Department. At the same time, it must undergo vapour heat treatment (VHT) for 40 minutes at 46.5 degrees Celsius with a minimum of 90 per cent humidity at a processing facility approved by the department.
Apart from Hoang Phat’s vapour heat treatment plant, there are three other factories of the same kind in HCM City and the southern provinces of Binh Duong and Binh Thuan, which will meet the demand for the treatment of dragon fruit exported to Australia.
According to news website nld.com.vn, Viet Nam earned more than US$2 billion from the export of vegetable and fruit since the beginning of this year, of which more than $1 billion were from the export of dragon fruit.
This kind of fruit is advantageous and capable of expanding in the growing area, meeting the demand of the market for quality, uniformity and can be shipped by sea.
