Central Retail Vietnam, a member of the Thai-based retail conglomerate the Central Group, said it plans to purchase 1,000 tonnes of lychee from the northern province of Bac Giang’s Luc Ngan district this year.

Luc Ngan lychee will therefore be placed on shelves at Big C & Go and LanChi Mart supermarkets. To popularise it to consumers at the 38 Big C & Go stores nationwide, a lychee promotion week will be held in Hanoi.

Nguyen Thi Phuong, Deputy General Director of Central Retail Vietnam, said a team from the company visited lychee orchards to prepare purchase and distribution plans.

The best of the fruit is to be bought directly from the source, she said, adding that the expected purchase of 1,000 tonnes is triple last year’s figure.

Central Retail will continue to export Luc Ngan lychee to Thailand, where they will be distributed at its Tops and Central Food Hall grocery chains in Bangkok.

Luc Ngan has over 15,000 ha of lychee growing area, including 12,000 ha under VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards.