The Hanoi Irradiation Centre is one of two facilities in Vietnam meeting standards on the irradiation of fresh fruit for export to the US and Australia.
Since the beginning of the recent crop, the centre has received just one request to irradiate 10 tons of longan for export to Australia. The longan output in Son La and Hung Yen provinces is generally more than 120,000 tons by this time of year.
The irradiation process includes on-site quarantine performed by a plant quarantine specialist from the US. Due to COVID-19, however, the expert is unable to return to Vietnam to work.
This business currently has 15 tons of mangoes, 17 tons of dragon fruit, and 36 tons of longan waiting for quarantine before being exported to the US. If no timely solution is adopted the business will face huge losses.
The local agriculture sector is now strengthening and restoring production as supply of many goods increases as harvests are completed. The prevalence of COVID-19 in many import markets remains a complex matter, however. Exports seem likely to face a range of difficulties in the time to come./.
