The People’s Committee of Dong Nai Province in southern Vietnam on Wednesday exported over 300 metric tons of fresh bananas to China, marking its first batch of fresh bananas exports for this lunar year.

Nguyen Thi Hoang, vice chairwoman of the Dong Nai People’s Committee, shared that, after years of negotiations, a protocol on phytosanitary procedures for fresh Vietnamese bananas to be exported to China had been agreed upon by Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the General Administration of Customs China in November of last year.

The agreement marked a milestone in the saga of the export of fresh bananas through official channels.

Bananas are considered one of 24 key crops produced in Dong Nai Province.

With a total area of more than 13,100 hectares, Dong Nai boasts the most acreage dedicated to banana farming in Vietnam, accounting for 8.5 percent of the country’s total and 71 percent in the country’s southeastern region.

Eight 40-feet container trucks transport fresh bananas from Dong Nai Province to China.

The province also took the lead in terms of number of banana planting area codes issued by the Plant Protection Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and approved by the General Administration of Customs China.

In particular, it currently boasts 30 banana planting areas with issued codes, accounting for a combined area of nearly 5,700 hectares, or 43 percent of the province’s total banana farming area.

Dong Nai is also home to 39 banana packaging unit codes.

The province produces 450,000 metric tons of bananas per year, with each hectare producing 40-45 metric tons annually.

Of that total, over 80 percent is exported to China, South Korea, Japan, and Malaysia.

Consul General of China in Ho Chi Minh City Wei Huaxiang said Chinese people prefer fresh bananas but many regions in the country cannot cultivate banana trees.

Therefore, he hopes to enhance bilateral cooperation between the two countries in order to boost the export of fresh Vietnamese bananas to China.

He also affirmed that the Consulate General of China in Ho Chi Minh City supports the export of Vietnam’s fresh bananas to China, though he did note that Vietnam should pay more attention to packaging and preservation in order to ensure quality.

Dong Nai Province exported more than 400,000 metric tons of fresh bananas last year and set a target to send over 500,000 metric tons to other countries this year, Dong Nai newspaper reported.

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