Bay, who has a two-hectare lychee orchard in Giap Son village, Luc Ngan District, said: "I used to sell 4-5 tons of lychees a day in previous years, but now I only sell half as much."

A farmer harvests lychees in Luc Ngan District, Bac Giang Province.

She said Chinese traders are unable to visit to buy lychees as they normally do since Bac Giang is one of provinces worst hit by the pandemic. It has recorded 1,481 cases as of Wednesday since the fourth wave began on April 27.

She now relies greatly on selling to the province cooperative, and hopes the pandemic would soon be under control and Chinese traders could come again during the main harvest season between mid-June and the end of July.

Another lychee farmer in Luc Ngan District, Sinh, said prices are lower than usual.

"Prices on the first day of harvest this year were VND20,000-25,000 ($0.86-1.08) per kilogram, VND10,000 less than last year."

He attributed the drop to the smaller number of buyers in the absence of Chinese traders.

Bac Giang has 28,100 hectares under the fruit, and expects to harvest 180,000 tons this year, up 8 percent from 2020, according to its Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

According to Luc Ngan vice chairman Nguyen The Thi, around 67,000 tons grown in the district would be sold for domestic consumption, 23,000 tons would be used for dry lychee processing, and only 32,000 tons would be exported.

Nguyen Van Phuong, deputy director of the Bac Giang Department of Industry and Trade, said his agency has worked with Chinese traders and local lychee exporters, and decided trucks with the fruits from Bac Giang would gather one kilometer from the China border for disinfection.

The Chinese would then take the trucks and drive them to a spot to load the fruits in their vehicles, he said.

"Each batch of goods will have a QR code to provide information about the production area, farmers, preservation, and shipping progress."

The province has set up a lychee export support team each at the border in Lao Cai and Lang Son provinces to quickly resolve difficulties arising in cross-border trade.

To protect the lychee growing areas, the province has set up checkpoints on roads leading to them and quarantines everyone who comes into contact with Covid-19 patients.

Visitors have their temperature checked and need to provide medical declarations at the checkpoints, while vehicles are disinfected.

Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien has called on Vietnam’s trade offices in foreign countries to help Bac Giang Province promote and sell its lychees in overseas markets and the Vietnam E-commerce and Digital Economy Agency to help sell online and promote the fruits through online trade promotion events.

Bac Giang was Vietnam’s main lychee growing area with the fruit grown on 28,000 hectares last year, according to the province portal.

Fresh lychees hit shelves at Saigon Co.opmart supermarket chain

The Saigon Union of Trading Co-operatives (Saigon Co.op) has announced that more than 50 tonnes of fresh lychees have been put up for sale at its outlets in the northern region.

Bac Giang grants certificate of Covid-19 free lychee

(BGO) – Implementing duo task of Covid-19 prevention and control and effective production and consumption of farm produce, the People’s Committee in Bac Giang province assigned Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to coordinate to Department of Health, Department of Industry and Trade to instruct the districts and city to grant certificate of Covid-19 free lychee.

Bac Giang focuses on pandemic prevention and online sale of early ripening lychee

(BGO) – The early ripening lychees in Bac Giang province is harvested soon with outstanding productivity and quality. Taking the advantages, the local competent agencies and authorities have well prepared the condition to welcome the harvest season.

Bac Giang develops three scenarios for lychee consumption

(BGO) - Amid the complicated developments of the Covid-19 pandemic, on May 17, the People's Committee of Bac Giang province issued a plan for lychee consumption in the context of the pandemic. Accordingly, the province develops three response scenarios. Specifically:

Provincial leader urges to well prepare condition to export Tan Yen lychee to Japan

(BGO) – On May 16, Phan The Tuan, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee in Bac Giang province (PPC) paid a field trip to inspect the production and preparation for consumption of early ripening lychee in Tan Yen district. 

Source: VnExpress