Vietnam looks set to flood the U.S. exotic fruit market in the future with litchis and longans, according to an Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) economic report.

The service said while the increased imports might affect U.S. producers it could not refuse Vietnam's application to increase exports.

Litchis

Vietnam is expecting to export 600 metric tons (MT) of litchis to the U.S. and 1,200MT of longans.

"All things equal, an increase in the quantity supplies of this magnitude is likely to cause downward pressure on prices."

The report added that increased Vietnamese imports might displace imports from other countries.

"U.S. producers may be able to lessen the effects of increased foreign competition by developing marketing arrangements that allow access to more profitable retail outlets for their litchi and longan," the report said.

Currently China is the largest litchi exporter to the U.S. at 2,194MT in 2010, with Thailand the largest longan exporter at 986 MT.

Although, U.S. litchi imports fell from 5,222 MT in 2007 to 3,244MT in 2010, industry experts expect future demand based on increasing Asian and Hispanic populations.

U.S. growers produced 535MT of litchis and about 776MT of longans in 2008.

Photo: Steamykitchen.com

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