The Hoang Anh Gia Lai Agricultural JSC (HAGL Agrico), an affiliate of Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group, has inaugurated a banana packing plant and shipped the first batch of fresh bananas to China to meet growing demand.

Illustrative image (Photo: HAGL Agrico) 

General Director of HAGL Agrico Nguyen Quan Anh said the company planted 7,000ha of bananas, 3,000ha of which are being harvested.

He added that bananas will be packed in 10 facilities with an annual capacity of 25,000 tonnes, and then exported to China’s Beijing, Dalian and Shanghai.

According to Anh, China has huge demand for tropical fruits such as dragon fruit, grapefruit, mango, jackfruit and banana. Nearly 18 million tonnes of bananas are shipped to the country each year.

The company targets increasing the output to 500,000 tonnes next year, he said.

HAGL Agrico now has 18,000ha of agricultural land worth about 400 million USD, planting different types of fruit, including bananas in Ratanakiri province’s Koun Mom district in northeast Cambodia, where it borders Vietnam and Laos.

The company has so far generated 10,000 jobs, which is expected to reach 15,000 next year. It also adopts an ecosystem for breeding, planting and irrigation using the Israeli technology.