Vietnam lychees penetrate Thai market

Thai customers inspecting Vietnamese lychees

The event was attended by Vietnamese Ambassador to Thailand Pham Viet Hung, trade counselor Le Huu Phuc, Central Retail Corporation's management team, and many Thai consumers.

Hung said that the event demonstrated the efforts of Central Retail and Vietnamese agencies in promoting Vietnamese products in the Thai market,

"Vietnam and Thailand are major trading partners, so facilitating Vietnam's exports to Thailand is crucial, as it aims to achieve the goal of $25 billion in bilateral trade by 2025, as agreed upon by the two countries' leaders. We are delighted to see high-quality Vietnamese lychees showcased at this event and believe that the quality of Vietnamese products meets the needs of Thai customers," Hung said.

Due to unfavourable weather conditions this year, lychee production in Bac Giang province has significantly decreased, reaching only about 30 per cent compared to last year. This has led to an increase in the purchase price of lychees and logistics costs. However, Central Retail has tried keeping the selling price similar to last year to promote Vietnamese lychees and build trust among Thai consumers.

With an attractive promotional price of 299 baht/kg ($8), reduced from 399 baht, it creates better conditions for Thai consumers to easily purchase, experience, and actively support Vietnamese lychees.

Jariya Chirathivat, executive vice president - business development of Central Group, said that Central Food Retail, with its Tops supermarket chain, a business unit under Central Retail Corporation, was proud to source the best food and ingredients from around the world.

"With the Vietnamese lychee season at its peak of sweetness and ripeness, Tops is organising the Vietnamese Lychee Event, lasting from mid-June to early July at 32 Tops Food Hall and Tops Market stores across Thailand, introducing high-quality and flavourful Vietnamese lychees to Thai consumers. This is the seventh consecutive year Tops has promoted Vietnamese lychees in Thailand," she said. "As a leading retail group, Central Group contributes to strengthening trade relations between Vietnam and Thailand through trade promotion efforts, and introducing Vietnamese products for distribution in Central Retail's retail system is our top priority."

Paul Le, vice president of Central Retail in Vietnam, said that to successfully export Bac Giang lychees to the Thai market, they had selected the best quality lychees, then adjusted the packaging and cold storage methods to be most suitable for export.

"With increasingly improved cold storage and packaging management, we believe Vietnamese lychees will soon be exported to many countries worldwide. In the Thai market alone, Central Retail has successfully exported to Thailand continuously since 2017. Thai people now often wait for Vietnamese lychees in season to enjoy the world's best quality lychees," he said.

In 2017, after many efforts to promote the export of lychees to Thailand, the first batch of Bac Giang lychees was exported to the Thai market and received positive interest from Thai consumers when shopping at Tops supermarkets and Tops Food Hall. Since then, Thai consumers have gradually become accustomed to buying in-season lychees from Vietnam.

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