"The South Korean Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency (APQA) officially posted on its website about the import of fresh pomelo from Vietnam," the department announced, adding that the agreement had been reached in late July after two years of negotiations.
With this deal, pomelo has become Vietnam's third fruit to be exported to South Korea after dragon fruit and mango. South Korea’s 50 million population makes it a good market for Vietnamese fruits.
"This is an important step for the local agriculture sector and underlines the quality of Vietnam's fruits," the department stressed.
Vietnam has 105,400 hectares of pomelo, with an output of nearly 905,000 tonnes and a regional variety of pomelo.
Vietnamese pomelo has been exported to 12 countries and territories. Vietnamese pomelo was also recently approved for export to the US and New Zealand. The agriculture sector expected that the fruit would receive a licence for Australia next year.
Vietnam earned about USD45 million last year from pomelo.