Soc Trang exports 10 tonnes of star apples to US market
VOV.VN - Ke Sach district in the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang recently shipped four tonnes of star apples to the United Sates, according to Nguyen Thanh Phuoc, head of the province's Plant Protection and Cultivation Sub-department.
Phuoc stated that in order to fill the orders, local export enterprises collected star fruits from farms throughout the locality at a price of VND30,000 per kg, before packing and preserving them for exports to the US.
At the current selling price, he noted, farmers are able to earn VND450 million annually, a figure 10 times higher than rice cultivation.
At present, the province has exported a total of 10 tonnes of star fruit to this potential market.
In order to export to the US, these farms are growing over 1,900 hectares of star apples, all of which have been verified and labeled with code stamps as a means of tracing their origins. The farms also make use of advanced techniques for pesticide management as required by the US Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).
Phuoc noted that after the US, the province has initiated plans to expand its export market of the fruit to Japan.
