Hanoi Irradiation Centre (Institute of Atomic Energy of Vietnam) has irradiated 2 tons of lychee for export to the Australian market.

In the afternoon of June 23^rd, Hanoi Irradiation Centre (Institute of Atomic Energy of Vietnam) operated irradiation equipment for the first batch of lychee exports to Australia.

This is the lychee batch of Rong Do Limited Liability Company and Agrycare Limited Liability Company, with an estimated quantity of over 2 tons of fresh lychee.

Mr Dang Quang Thieu, director of Hanoi Irradiation Centre, said because of the newly operating system, costs for irradiation is just VND 6.000/kg.

Furthermore, enterprises can save costs and transit time. With the current equipment system, Hanoi Irradiation Centre has a capacity of irradiation operation for about 20-30 tons of lychee per day.

According to calculations of the enterprise, with the irradiation in Hanoi, enterprises can save more than VND 20 million/ container comparing to irradiation in Ho Chi Minh city, helping increase the competiveness of the product.

Reportedly, during June 24^th, Hanoi Irradiation Centre continues the irradiating process for 10 tons of lychee to be exported to Australia by sea. In addition, many businesses have already registered for lychee irradiation. This is good news for producers and exporters of lychee this year.

Earlier, on June 20^th, Department of Plant Protection (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) received information from the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation of Australia officially recognizing Hanoi Irradiation Centre as able to handle irradiation of lychee for export to this country.

According to Mr Nguyen Quang Thieu, irradiation time for each batch of products is about 1.5 hours. After taking samples and conducting analysis, lychee will be placed on the irradiation system. When the process is complete, the product meeting export standards will be put into refrigerated rooms and containers, then transported to the airport for export.