Vietnamese lychees hit shelves in Belgium

Illustrative image (Source: VNA)

Brussels (VNA) – “Thieu” lychees from Vietnam have hit the shelves of Carrefour Tongre supermarkets in Brussels, Belgium, since June 23 thanks to efforts of the Vinamex company and partners inbringing the Vietnamese specialty fruit to Europe to utilise the EU-Vietnam FreeTrade Agreement (EVFTA).

This is the first time the tropical fruit has been sold inthe supermarkets, with good feedback from consumers.

Weiss, the manager of five Carrefour Tongre supermarkets,said that he has never eaten such a tasty fruit. He decided to sell the fruitin the supermarket chain so that Belgian people can taste the wonderful fruit.

He said that Thanh Ha “thieu” lychees has outstanding tastecompared to other kinds of lychees that he has sold in the supermarkets, expressinghis belief that Belgian consumers will like the fruit once they taste it.

Weiss has decided to sell 100kg of Vietnamese lychees in five Carrefour Tongre supermarketsat the price of 25 EUR (nearly 30 USD) per kilo. He advised Vietnamese farmersto further improve post-harvest technology to keep the fruit fresh for a longertime.

The EVFTA has paved the way for Vietnamese farm produce toenter EU markets. Besides Belgium, Vietnamese lychee has so far reached manyEuropean countries such as the Netherlands, France, and the Czech Republic.

Minh Lien, Vinamex Director, said that its first batch of 500kgof “thieu” lychees was sold out only after two days. The firm will continue toimport another batch of the fruit next week. Vinamex also plans to import HungYen longan to sell in Belgium, she said, expressing her belief that likelychee, longan will draw consumers' interest in the land of chocolate./.

VNA