Growth market: Street vendors selling durians in Hanoi. China imported US$6.7bil worth of fresh durian last year. — AFP
HANOI: Vietnam could earn US$300mil from shipping frozen durian to China on the back of a recently signed protocol on plant-quarantine requirements.
The protocol is huge for the Vietnamese durian industry, promising a breakthrough in the export turnover of the fruit in the near future, according to Huynh Tan Dat, director of the Plant Protection Department under the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry.
Durian can be exported by land, air and sea.
Although frozen durian products boast huge export potential, enterprises face some major challenges in food-safety requirements, packaging, origin traceability and food safety and hygiene processes.
Enterprises need to improve their freezing technology, product quality control and traceability systems, as well as controls on the production process of frozen durian.
Dat ordered agencies of the department to continue providing technical support and training for local governments, associations, cultivation areas, packaging facilities and exporters, while working closely with the General Administration of Customs of China to settle issues in a timely manner.
The Agriculture and Rural Development Department must work to raise public awareness of China’s regulations on frozen durian imports, while local authorities must step up inspections to promptly detect any violation of plant protection and food-safety regulations in production and packaging.
Meanwhile exporters, packaging facilities and producers must meticulously study China’s regulations, and strictly comply with the requirements under the protocol.
They must also develop substantive chains that link growing areas, packaging facilities and exporters, as well as build a traceability system, he added.
Vietnam’s frozen durian products set for export to China include whole durian, mashed durian and durian flesh, according to Nguyen Quang Hieu, deputy director of the Plant Protection Department.
Durian is frozen at a temperature of minus 35°C or lower for at least one hour until the core temperature reaches minus 18°C or lower.
This temperature is maintained throughout the storage and transport process in accordance with the Code of Practice for the Processing and Handling of Quick Frozen Foods.
Frozen durian exported from Vietnam to China must comply with China’s laws and standards related to food safety and plant quarantine, Hieu noted.
Products ready for export must be selected to remove rotten and damaged fruit and to ensure that they do not contain impurities, he said.
Frozen durian exports must originate from durian orchards that are registered, managed and supervised.
Facilities for producing, processing and preserving the products must be registered with Chinese customs.
Packaging materials for the frozen fruit must be clean, hygienic, unused and comply with food safety and hygiene and plant-quarantine requirements.
Each box must be labelled in Chinese or English with the product name, origin, name and registration code of the production or processing facility, name and address of the exporter, production date, expiry date and the sentence: “This product is being exported to the People’s Republic of China”, Hieu said.
Last year, China spent some US$6.7bil importing fresh durian and US$1bil purchasing frozen durian from Thailand and Malaysia.
Vietnam now has around 150,000 ha of durian, with growers able to harvest the tropical fruit all year round.
The country holds a competitive edge over its regional rivals regarding the costs of logistics. This year, Vietnam’s durian exports may surpass US$3bil. — Viet Nam News/ANN
