Dragonberry Produce to expand passion fruit and guava exports to the U.S

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment Hoang Trung highly appreciated the efforts of Dragonberry Produce, which is one of the leading premium agricultural importers in the U.S in commercializing Vietnamese fruits. In July 2025, the company successfully distributed a shipment of fresh lychees from Bac Ninh (former Bac Giang) at Costco, the largest retail supermarket chain in the U.S.

Mr. James Molamphy, Sales Director of Dragonberry Produce, noted that demand for tropical fruits in the U.S. is rising sharply, with Vietnamese lychees being particularly valued by consumers for their flavor. The success of the 2024 season provides an important foundation for the company to prepare for expansion plans in the coming years.

Dragonberry Produce also expressed its hope that the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment would support procedures for establishing a selective irradiation facility for lychees in Bac Ninh province. Once completed, this facility would enable more of Vietnam’s specialty fruits to expand into global markets.

"Not only the U.S., our goal is to bring Vietnamese lychees and many other fruits into Europe and other potential markets. To achieve this, preprocessing, packaging, and irradiation must strictly comply with standards, while close coordination between enterprises and regulatory agencies is essential," the Deputy Minister emphasized.

Dragonberry Produce’s CEO, Ms. Amy Nguyen, revealed that the company is planning to build a packaging facility in Bắc Ninh. Here, lychees will be processed immediately after harvest and placed on a sorting line equipped with cameras and artificial intelligence (AI) to classify ripeness and quality.

According to Ms. Amy, although lychee orchards are located in northern Vietnam, the fruits must be transported to Ho Chi Minh City for irradiation, a process that takes around five days, making it difficult to maintain freshness. “If we have a modern irradiation facility in the North that can detect fruit damage, we can preserve quality and freshness while reducing logistics costs,” she explained.

Not stopping at lychees, Dragonberry Produce expressed its desire to expand imports of other specialty fruits from Vietnam such as passion fruit and guava. The company’s representative noted that Dragonberry Produce is ready to build the brand "Vietnam Specialty Produce", highlighting the distinctive flavors and competitiveness of Vietnamese fruits in major markets.

The Deputy Minister instructed Dragonberry Produce to coordinate with the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection to complete import procedures, provide a catalog of fruit-sorting technologies, and conduct training for operational personnel.

According to Ms. Amy Nguyen, the company will provide market consulting, connect business partners, and offer technological solutions to ensure that Vietnam’s premium agricultural products can be exported not only to North America but also to the EU and Australia. At the same time, this will create opportunities for farmers in northern Vietnam. She said her company successfully exported 100 tonnes of fresh Bac Ninh lychees in 2025 to high-end markets including Japan, Canada, and the US.

Deputy Minister Hoang Trung affirmed that the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment is ready to accompany and facilitate enterprises in jointly developing agricultural value chains. He emphasized that Dragonberry Produce’s success in bringing Vietnamese lychees into supermarket chains such as Costco is not merely a seasonal achievement, but also a long-term opportunity to reinforce Vietnam’s agricultural brand on the global map.