The Chanh Thu Fruits Import Export Co on Thursday exported eight tonnes of Hoa Loc mangoes to the US, making it the first Vietnamese enterprise to ship mangoes to the strict market.

All exported mangoes were harvested at the My Xuong Mango Cooperative in the southern province of Dong Thap’s Cao Lanh district, according to company director Nguyen Thi Hong Thu.

Mangoes were carefully selected and met VietGAP standards, Thu said at a ceremony in the province on the same day.

The mangoes were provided with a code from the Vietnamese Plant Protection Department and the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) for management and traceability.

All pre-export shipments must be irradiated, quarantined and granted phytosanitary certificates by the APHIS, she said.

Dong Thap has more than 9,650ha of mango varieties with annual output of 127,000 tonnes, leading other provinces in the Mekong Delta region, the provincial People’s Committee vice chairman Nguyen Thanh Hung said at the event.

Two specialty mango varieties, Cat Chu and Hoa Loc, were granted certificates of intellectual rights by the National Office of Intellectual Property of Vietnam, he said.

The fruit is one of Dong Thap’s key products in its agriculture restructuring programme. The province’s mangoes, which are mostly exported to China, have also been exported to South Korea, Japan and New Zealand.

The province, which has set up two cooperatives and 29 cooperative teams that grow mangoes, has contracted with companies to guarantee outlets for their mangoes. VIET NAM NEWS/ANN