Vietnam ready to export first batch of sweet potatoes to China

Illustrative image. (Photo: VNA)

Vietnam’s 70 sweet potato cultivation areas and 13 packaging facilities have been licenced to export to China, reported the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD)’s Plant Protection Department.

General director of the department Hoang Trung said, on November 9, 2022, the MARD and the General Administration of Customs China (GACC) signed a protocol on quarantine requirements for sweet potato exports to China.

The GACC recently sent a diplomatic note to the department to inform the results of inspection on Vietnamese enterprises that export sweet potatoes to China.

During the online inspection of 23 Vietnamese sweet potato packaging facilities, Chinese authorities revealed that 13 out of the establishments fully meet the phytosanitary requirements outlined under the provisions of the protocol.

The Chinese side also confirmed that 70 of Vietnam's sweet potato growing areas meet the stringent standards under the terms of the protocol.

The department has also come up with plans to ship the first batch of sweet potatoes to China.

Vietnam is now home to about 100,000ha of sweet potato cultivation areas with a total output of 1.2-1.3 million tonnes, which are abundant for export./.