Vietnamese lychees sold out in Japan despite high price

By Hoa Dang - Jun 24, 2020 | 11:20 PM GMT+7

TheLEADERMore than 2 tonnes of lychee from Bac Giang province were sold out after only a few hours displayed at supermarkets in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan.

Vietnamese lychees sold out in Japan despite high price
Soichi Okazaki, Executive Officer at Aeon Co Ltd evaluates Vietnamese lychee

According to the Industry and Trade Promotion Center of Bac Giang province, the first lychees exported from Vietnam to Japan was sold out after only a few hours displayed at supermarkets in Tokyo and Osaka on June 21. The supermarkets only keep a small quantity for promotion at various events.

The fruit was packed into small boxes weighing 200g each. Each small box containing less than 10 lychee fruits is sold at a promotional price of about $5. This means that each kilogram of Vietnamese lychee cost people living in Japan $25 while the price in Vietnam market is only about $2 per kilogram.

Initially, Japanese businesses and customers highly evaluated the fruits for its high quality, delicious taste, freshness and good-looking. This is a precious fruit in Japan because of its scarcity in the market, grown mainly in Okinawa and Kagoshima.

Takuro, a Japanese man said that fruits are normally quite expensive in Japan, especially imported ones.

“Generally, all things imported are really expensive, not only fruit. From exporters’ point of view, Japanese are good customers because even if products are expensive, Japanese pay. Simply because they like it, or they have money and have no alternative choice when the country has limited resources to localise,” said Takuro.

Currently, 5 tons of Luc Ngan lychee are on the seaway and will arrive Japan in few days. As schedule, Bac Giang province will export about 100 tons of fresh lychee to Japan by sea and air this year.

The local competent agencies have coordinated with Japanese experts to review, instruct and supervise strictly the procedures of production, harvest and preservation of fresh lychee in Luc Ngan district to meet the requirements from such demanding market.

Vietnamese trade counsellor in Japan also said it was coordinating with some importers such as AEON, VIENT Corporation, Yufruit, Sunrise Farm and Vietnam's export hubs such as Red Dragon Company, Chanh Thu, Ameii ... to promote the export of lychee to Japan this year.