Vietnam’s ‘dragon fruit’ now ‘flying’ to the US

VietNamNet Bridge – Over 10 consignments of red-skinned, white-fleshed ‘dragon fruit’ have been shipped by air to the US since Vietnam resumed efforts to develop an export market for them a month ago.

Nguyen Huu Dat, Director of the Post-import Vegetable Product Quarantine Centre (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development - MARD), who has just returned from a working trip to the US, talked to Tuoi Tre newspaper about the potential for dragon fruit exports to the American market.

(Known in Vietnamese as ‘thanh long,’ dragon fruit is the bulbous fruit of a species of cactus extensively cultivated in dryer regions of the central coast. Its skin is reddish-purple, and its sweet white flesh is flecked with tiny black seeds).

Dat said:

“I have found out that the dragon fruit carried to the US by air has high quality and has been distributed widely in the US,” Dat said. “Though the dragon fruit was imported only through the ports of Los Angeles (California) and Miami, it was also seen selling in Texas at Vietnamese and Chinese markets at $11 per kilogram. Vietnam’s dragon fruit is selling at least as well as other tropical fruits. This is really the good news for Vietnam’s new export item.

“All Asian countries are sending fresh fruits to the US by air in order to ensure high quality. Last year, Vietnam tried shipping dragon fruits to the US by sea, but we had problems in shipment and preservation technique.

“We have had good results keeping dragon fruit fresh by irradiating them and then refrigerating them at five degrees Celsius. There was no deterioration in quality after 30 days. We are trying the method to preserve dragon fruits for 60 days. This means that though we have to carry other types of fruits by air, we will be able to ship dragon fruits by sea, reducing costs.”

Why aren’t Vietnam’s dragon fruits yet available at ‘mainstream’ supermarkets in the US?

So far, Vietnamese exporters have proven that they can deliver quality fruits to the ports in the US. However, the importers are all small, without access to the supermarket system.

“In the long term, of course, Vietnam needs to bring dragon fruit into supermarkets in the US in order to heighten the fruit’s recognition and sales. Supermarkets have good preservation systems which allow them to keep fruits for longer time, and the sale prices at supermarkets are higher than at Asian-American markets

“To access the supermarket system in the US, exporters need to cooperate to launch advertisement campaigns for Vietnam’s dragon fruit.”

Do we have capacity to irradiate more dragon fruit if exports ‘take off’ in the near future?

“Exporters have said that the procedures for getting irradiation for dragon fruit has been much improved during the last year. Moreover, another irradiation plant will soon be operating in Binh Duong province. Everything at that plant is been ready for US experts to inspect it and issue certificates.”

Which other kinds of fruits, beside dragon fruit, can we export to the US?

“A lot of tropical fruits are now available in the US. Most come from Thailand, the Philippines and Taiwan. They are very expensive. For example, a kilogram of longan sells for $4, mangos $9, oranges $4.5, Mexican guava $7-10, rambutan $18. These are all kinds of fruits that Vietnam can export to the US and we believe that the quality of the competing fruits is not higher than Vietnam’s.”

So, which kinds of fruits will go abroad next?

“The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is preparing the modalities for exporting a second group of fruits, namely longan, litchis and rambutans. Mango, guava, jack-fruit, star apple and mangosteen will be in a third wave. We hope to introduce longan, litchis and rambutans to the US by the end of the year.”

VietNamNet/TT