Vietnamese dragon fruit grower-shipper Red Dragon Company has inked a deal to supply American Winco and Safeway supermarket chains in the US Pacific Northwest.
The move marks the first time Vietnamese dragon fruit will be available in mainstream US retail outlets, according to news site Tuoitrenews.vn.Since gaining entry to the US market in 2008, Vietnamese dragon fruit shippers have exclusively supplied ethnic Vietnamese and Chinese supermarkets.
Red Dragon Company will export its dragon fruit to Winco and Safeway outlets across California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada and Utah by sea and air, the company's export director Mai Xuan Thin told Fruitnet.com.
But Thin warns that Vietnamese dragon fruit volumes to the US will fall this year because of port-of-entry delays caused by pesticide-residue testing.
The US has yet to set maximum residue levels for Vietnamese dragon fruit entering the country, he explained. This means pesticide traces are not tolerated, and shipments are destroyed if residues are detected.
The holding time while fruits are tested is also affecting quality and shortening shelf-life, he added.
The risk of having fruit quality impaired or losing a shipment entirely will put off Vietnamese exporters from shipping to the US, he said.
