Vietnam Trade Office in Singapore has just posted the information related to Vietnam's lychee items in Singapore. As of mid-June 2020, nearly 50 tons of lychees have been exported to Singapore from Hai Phong port and it is expected that by the end of the lychee season, the total export value could reach 100 tons. According to the Vietnam Trade Office in Singapore, although Singaporeans have been familiar with lychees from Taiwan, China, and Thailand for many years, 2020 is the first year that people in this island can enjoy the lychees imported directly from Vietnam.
Lychee boxes in Singapore are usually packed with a weight of 700 - 1,000g. Vietnamese lychees are now sold at SGD 5/kg (equivalent to VND 84,000) in the first week (as a promotional price) and rises again to SGD 6/kg in the following week, equal to the price with Chinese lychees being sold in Singapore. However, because the quality and colour are much better, Singapore consumers have immediately "fallen in love" with Vietnamese lychees. After 2 weeks on the shelves, many supermarkets have no more lychees to sell.
Also according to the Trade Office, Singapore is a familiar market with lychees and people prefer and consume in large quantities. Therefore, Vietnamese lychees does not take time to get acquainted like in the Australian market or Japanese market (packaging usually only plays from 200-300g/box). In addition, the price of Vietnamese lychees is very competitive compared to Thai, Taiwan, and Chinese lychees and the quality is much better. However, the major difficulty now is the ability to ensure the supply of high quality goods for Singapore.
Currently, the source of lychees to Singapore is exported from the growing region by the standard system of linking the block chain of OTAS Vietnam to serve the Japanese market. In the coming years, as the demand of the Japanese market gets bigger, this source of lychees will not be able to supply to Singapore.
Besides, according to the preliminary assessment, the packaging and handling stage of Vietnam is not good, leading to the fact that lychee is still much damaged when being docked in Singapore. Therefore, Fairprice supermarket had to open each box, sorting and repacking, leading to the internal cost. Particularly, the Vietnam Trade Office in Singapore also said that there were still lychees even with maggots inside. If the quality is not done well, the Singaporean customers will complain about the supermarket, certainly, the door of Vietnamese lychees into the sustainable market will be very difficult.
To ensure the journey of bringing lychee fruit to this oasis, from the beginning of 2018, the Trade Office of the Embassy of Vietnam in Singapore met with many big importers of Singapore fruits to convince to import lychees from Vietnam.
The deal has also persisted in working with Singaporean experts who have been involved in the project to improve Vietnam's lychee preservation and handling capacity and participated in the compilation of "A Good Practice Manual for Lychees" to provide a general guidance to Vietnamese lychees growers. With the support of experts, Singaporean lychee importers have gained a new perspective on Vietnam's lychee handling and preservation capabilities.
Scattered, in 2018-2019, there appeared Vietnamese lychees on a small scale in the outdoor markets of Singaporeans (whole stem, no canning, buyers chose to buy the same as in markets in Vietnam). However, due to the sale at the open-air market, which is not processed, does not guarantee the optimal temperature, it has led to a situation where the amount of goods sold is slow, the lychee is quickly damaged, degraded, causing small importers hesitate to sign contracts for the next season.
Recognizing the importance of bringing lychees into the retail system, the Embassy of Vietnam Trade Office has organized delegations to bring Singapore fruit importers to Vietnam for 3 consecutive years to search for new fruit products of Vietnam. Right from the beginning of the lychees season, the Trade Office collaborated with the Trade Promotion Department and Bac Giang Department of Industry and Trade to organize an online seminar to promote Vietnamese lychees and connect with domestic exporters.
For the Fair Price supermarket chain, which currently holds 70% of Singapore's retail market share, the deal is always interested in building a regular exchange relationship with your buying representative to introduce and persuade import new items. Embassy and Trade Leaders are also interested in developing close relationships with Fair Price Group leaders through regular visits and meals to campaign. As a result, Fair Price's Group leaders and Purchasing Representatives are always interested in increasing the presence of Vietnamese products in supermarkets.
In the context of Singapore still taking measures to control the Covid-19 epidemic, the implementation of a media campaign to promote lychee cannot be carried out. However, in preparation for the introduction of lychee into Singapore market in the coming years, the deal is being reviewed, summarized and learned by Fair Price.
It is expected that in the new lychees season, the deal will preside and coordinate with Vietnam Embassy in Singapore, Bac Giang province, Hai Duong province and Fair Price Corporation to organize "Vietnam Lychees Day in Singapore". Currently, the deal is coordinating with Singaporean experts to design leaflets in English to introduce and promote the Vietnamese lychees story, introduce the nutrition, how to preserve lychees at home to prepare for this case.
Source TCCT.