Vietnamese lychee 2025 season "arrives" in the French market

A French customer is tasting the first lychee of Vietnam's 2025 crop. Photo: VNA

In the chilly morning air of Paris, the first two tons of fresh lychees from Vietnam arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport, marking an important milestone in the journey of Vietnamese agricultural products to conquer the European market. After only 5 hours, thin-skinned, pink-brown, juicy and sweet lychees from Thanh Ha ( Hai Duong ) were available on the shelves at the Vietnamese-French Market supermarket, opening a new promising chapter for the country's agricultural export industry.
Mr. Vu Anh Son, Head of the Vietnam Trade Office in France, could not hide his excitement when he said: "With outstanding quality and the ability to strictly meet technical standards, the first batches of lychees of the 2025 crop from Hai Duong arrived at CDG International Airport in Paris and after only 5 hours were on supermarket shelves in the capital of France". This "lightning speed" not only demonstrates careful preparation in logistics but also demonstrates the tireless efforts of businesses and management agencies in perfecting the export process.
This success did not come by chance but was the result of a long journey with many challenges and valuable lessons. Mr. Nguyen Van Nam, representative of the Vietnamese-French Market, the unit directly importing lychees from Vietnam, frankly shared about the difficulties in the first year: "Due to lack of experience, last year we made mistakes, from the quality to the size of the lychees, from the way of preserving, transporting to the packaging that was not suitable. For these reasons, in the process of transporting and trading, there were many risks that greatly affected the business, both financially and in terms of the reputation of the business, when acting as a distributor for other partners".
The initial failures did not discourage us, but instead became the motivation for the parties involved to find solutions together. Mr. Nam continued: "This year, we sat together to learn from the first year's experience, so that this year, all the problems of the previous year were overcome. In the spirit of contribution and construction, both the French and Vietnamese sides tried very hard to solve all the problems from packaging, preservation to quality control, closely monitoring the size of the lychee to the color and many other things to try to maintain and promote the advantages of lychee, introduce and spread it further, so that Vietnamese lychee is more widely distributed and popular on French supermarket shelves."
This effort to improve quality has been rewarded with positive feedback from French consumers. Sipping on the thick, juicy lychee, Ms. Gyldan Percy, a local customer, could not hide her pleasant surprise: "This is the first time I have tasted Vietnamese lychee and I find it sweeter than the Madagascar lychee, the kind I have eaten before. Actually, I like this lychee better because the flesh is very soft, juicy and sweet. Although it is the first time I have tasted Vietnamese lychee, I really like it." What is special is that Ms. Percy used to dislike lychee: "Because normally I don't like lychee, I don't like Madagascar lychee at all, but this one I find really delicious!"
Mr. Savary Lionnel, another French customer, also expressed his interest: "I was just offered a lychee, a seasonal lychee, newly imported to the store. I tasted it and it was wonderful. I really like lychee, it's a tropical fruit that I love." He also shared about his special connection with Vietnam: "I have also been to Vietnam for tourism . This is not directly related to lychee, but there is a little connection, because it is the country of these lychees."
The success of Vietnamese lychees in France cannot be achieved without support from many sides, including the important role of management agencies and logistics partners. Mr. Nguyen Van Nam noted: "For Vietnamese lychees to appear on the French market officially, we must first mention the support of the Vietnam Trade Office, which is always a bridge for businesses in France and Vietnam to know and come together." He also particularly appreciated the role of Vietnam Airlines in transportation and customs clearance: "For lychees to reach the French market as quickly as possible, we must also mention the coordination and facilitation of the Vietnam Airlines transportation company, which has given preferential treatment to Vietnamese agricultural products to be transported as quickly as possible and ensured the quality of lychees to meet the freshest standards when they reach the French market." This shows the synchronous coordination between industries, creating an effective export support ecosystem.
Mr. Vu Anh Son also emphasized the profound strategic significance of these successes: "This is also part of a series of efforts that the Ministry of Industry and Trade has proposed and assigned to the Trade Offices to further support and promote market diversification, enhance adaptability to global fluctuations and once again affirm the proactiveness of Vietnamese enterprises on the path of international integration."
Assessing the prospects for 2025, Mr. Nguyen Van Nam expressed optimism when setting the goal of "exceeding last year's level, at least reaching 20 tons, and possibly even more". This optimism was shared by Mr. Vu Anh Son: "We expect that this year, with the active and greater participation of importers in France, the total volume of lychees imported here will be able to reach a new record level".
From the lush lychee gardens in Bac Giang and Hai Duong to supermarket shelves in France and other European countries, Vietnamese lychees are continuing their export story with quality and national pride. The journey to bring Vietnamese lychees to European consumers is still arduous with strict requirements on quality, traceability and food hygiene and safety standards, but positive signals from the French and European Union (EU) markets are opening a promising door. Each batch of fresh, sweet lychees, imbued with the flavor of the homeland, not only contributes to raising the profile of Vietnamese agricultural products on the world map, but also affirms the efforts of the Vietnamese agricultural sector to transform towards modernity, sustainability and deep integration.