A Japanese buyer asks whether you can send fresh fruit from Vietnam, and most answers online are a list of fruit names with no treatment, no variety and no date. That is how lychee of the wrong variety, or pomelo Japan has not opened, gets quoted and then cannot ship. In Japan the answer sits in a legal annex: a fruit is either named in it for Vietnam, with a treatment written to the tenth of a degree, or it is prohibited as fresh fruit.
💬 Growing or packing fruit in Vietnam and want to know whether a Japanese buyer can take it? Sunsho Trade is a Japanese-managed trading company in Ho Chi Minh City and acts as a sales agent and distributor for Japan. Send us the fruit, the variety and the form.
Step 1: match the fruit, the variety and the treatment to a Japanese standard
Before any price is discussed, check that your fruit and variety are one of the four Vietnamese entries Japan has opened — dragon fruit, Cat Chu mango, Thieu lychee and longan — and that the treatment its standard sets can be carried out in Vietnam.
The legal hook is Annex 2 of the Enforcement Regulations of Japan’s Plant Protection Act. It prohibits fresh fruit of fruit-fly host plants from listed regions, Vietnam included, and lifts the prohibition only for the entries in its supplementary table. Each Vietnamese entry points to a standard of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) and to detailed implementing rules.
| Fruit | What the standard covers | Standard | Treatment in Vietnam, as written in the standard | How Japan confirms it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dragon fruit | Hylocereus undatus, and hybrids of H. undatus and H. costaricensis (hybrids added by the 2017 amendment) | MAFF Notice No. 1472 of 20 October 2009, amended by Notice No. 72 of 16 January 2017 | Vapour heat: saturated steam raises the fruit core to 43 °C at a steady rate, then to 46.5 °C, held at 46.5 °C or above for 40 minutes | Plant protection officer reviews the records kept by Vietnam’s plant protection authority, in principle at least once a year, with on-site checks when the officer considers them necessary |
| Mango | Cat Chu variety only | MAFF Notice No. 2128 of 17 September 2015 | Vapour heat: fruit core to 43 °C at a steady rate, then to 47 °C, held at 47 °C or above for 20 minutes | Records reviewed, in principle at least once a year; treatment rooms must log core temperature at the top, middle and bottom of the load |
| Lychee | Thieu variety only | MAFF Notice No. 1634 of 13 December 2019, in force 15 December 2019, amended by Notice No. 715 of 30 April 2021 | Methyl bromide fumigation at 32 g per cubic metre of chamber volume, fruit temperature 27.1 °C or above, for 2 hours, with fruit filling no more than 34.8% of the chamber volume | Officer confirms the fumigation jointly with the Vietnamese authority and, in principle, attends the export inspection |
| Longan | Fresh longan produced in Vietnam; no variety restriction in the standard | MAFF Notice No. 1869 of 18 November 2022, in force the same day, amended by Notice No. 1762 of 25 November 2025 | Cold treatment: once the fruit core reaches 1.3 °C, held at that temperature or below for 13 days, in a designated cold store or a designated refrigerated container | Records reviewed, in principle at least once a year; for container treatment, start confirmed at the export port and completion at the import port |
Checked against the published texts on 18 September 2026.
The current Enforcement Regulations and the amended text promulgated to take effect on 17 December 2026 both list these four Vietnamese entries and no fifth. Vietnam’s plant protection authority likewise describes longan as the fourth fruit opened, after dragon fruit, Cat Chu mango and lychee.
Two details catch people. The mango and lychee standards name a variety, so a different mango or a different lychee is still a prohibited fruit. The lychee detailed rules were last amended on 16 March 2026. The text published today still describes the Japanese officer attending the inspection, but confirm the current practice with the authority before you plan a season around it.
Why everything else is shut as fresh fruit
Vietnam is listed in Annex 2 as a region where the oriental fruit fly complex is present, so the fresh fruit of every host plant on that row is prohibited unless one of the four exceptions applies — and the host list is long.
The row names Bactrocera dorsalis species complex, the oriental fruit fly group. Its host list includes all citrus (which takes in pomelo), the passion fruit genus, the guava genus, the banana genus, rambutan, and the mango and dragon fruit genera except for the entries listed above. A second row, for the melon fly, again covers mango and dragon fruit outside the listed exceptions.
One wording matters for bananas: the banana-genus entry excludes “fresh fruit of unripe bananas”, so unripe bananas are not caught by that row. Before you quote, have your importer confirm with the plant protection station that no other row applies.
Pomelo is the case people ask about most. It is not in the supplementary table in either text we checked, so fresh pomelo from Vietnam is prohibited, whatever a trade report says about talks. When it opens, it will appear there with its own standard.
Step 2: if your fruit is not open, change the form
Not being on the list does not end the product — it changes the form: frozen and certain dried fruit leave fresh-fruit quarantine behind, but Japan’s food safety rules still apply to every form.
| If your product is… | Then the plant quarantine position is… | What still applies |
|---|---|---|
| One of the four fruits, in the named variety, treated as written | Enters under its standard, with a phytosanitary certificate carrying the additional declarations and an import inspection | Food Sanitation Act import notification and residue limits |
| Fresh fruit not on the list (pomelo, passion fruit, guava, rambutan, a non-Cat Chu mango, a non-Thieu lychee) | Prohibited as fresh fruit | — |
| Frozen fruit, fully solid or held at −17.8 °C or below | No phytosanitary certificate required, but import inspection still is. MAFF states that even fruit prohibited as fresh can be imported if the officer confirms at inspection that it is frozen | Food Sanitation Act import notification and residue limits |
| Dried mango, banana, longan, pineapple, papaya and the other dried fruits on MAFF’s exempt list | Not subject to import plant quarantine | Food Sanitation Act import notification, residue limits and additive rules |
| Fruit preserved in sugar, salt, acetic acid, alcohol, sulphurous acid or similar | Not subject to import plant quarantine | Food Sanitation Act requirements |
So passion fruit that cannot go fresh can go as frozen pulp, and longan can go dried as well as fresh. What the table cannot do is create a buyer: frozen and dried fruit sell into different parts of the Japanese market. Test that with a buyer before you build a line for it.
💬 Your fruit is shut as fresh, but frozen or dried might work? We can put the frozen or dried form in front of Japanese buyers in Japanese before you invest in the line. Tell us the product and the volume you can hold steady.
Step 3: set up the Vietnam side before harvest
Everything that makes a fresh shipment admissible happens in Vietnam, under the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment: designated facilities, treatment, packing, inspection, sealing and the phytosanitary certificate.
The “Vietnamese plant protection organisation” in the Japanese standards is now the Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection (Cục Trồng trọt và Bảo vệ thực vật). Older guides still call it the Plant Protection Department under MARD. It runs the Vietnamese end:
- Designated facilities. Vapour heat rooms, fumigation chambers, cold stores and refrigerated containers are designated by the Vietnamese authority and surveyed with the Japanese side.
- Packing that keeps fruit flies out. Treated fruit must be packed in material and in a place that fruit flies cannot enter. For lychee, the rules require vents to be covered with mesh whose openings are no more than 1.6 mm across.
- Seal and marking. Each package or bundle is sealed by the Vietnamese authority. For longan treated in a container, the container is sealed instead. The lychee rules require packages to be marked “PLANT QUARANTINE VIETNAM” and “FOR JAPAN”.
- Phytosanitary certificate. The additional declaration differs by fruit. For dragon fruit and Cat Chu mango, it must state that the fruit is free from both the oriental fruit fly complex and the melon fly, and that the prescribed treatment was carried out. For lychee and longan, the declaration covers the oriental fruit fly complex and the prescribed treatment.
The Japanese standards and their detailed rules deal with treatment, designated facilities, packing places, certificates and seals. They do not themselves set a requirement to register the orchard. Whether a growing-area code is also required on the Vietnamese side for your shipment is a question to put to the department directly, and to confirm against the current Vietnamese text before you rely on it.
None of this can be added after harvest. Fruit that has not passed through a designated facility under the standard cannot ship fresh to Japan, whatever its quality. So ask “which designated facility, under which standard” before you ask “what price”.
What a Japanese buyer asks for before a price
A Japanese buyer usually wants to see the compliance chain before the commercial terms, so have the standard, the facility, the records and the importer question answered in writing before you quote.
In a negotiation conducted in Japanese, the first questions tend to be about proof rather than price. Prepare these before the first call:
- Which standard the fruit ships under, and the variety, stated the way the standard states it. For mango, “Cat Chu”; for lychee, “Thieu”.
- Which designated facility treats and packs it, and whether that facility is currently designated for Japan for that fruit. Put this question to the department in Vietnamese, in writing, and keep the reply.
- Treatment records for a past run, if the facility can share them, showing the core temperatures or fumigation conditions the standard requires.
- Spray records from the orchard. These answer the residue question in Japan, which the treatment certificate does not.
- Who will be the importer in Japan, since that party files the import notification. This is agreed case by case, not assumed.
Having these answers ready in both languages is most of the work of the first meeting. A gap in one of them tends to end the conversation, whatever the fruit tastes like.
What happens at the Japanese port
At the port, a plant protection officer checks the fruit and the certificate; if the oriental fruit fly is found, the whole lot is destroyed or sent back, and imports of that fruit can be halted until the cause is resolved.
Under the longan and lychee rules, if the oriental fruit fly is found (a live one, in the longan rules), the officer orders the entire lot destroyed or returned. The two authorities then investigate together, and import inspection for that fruit stops until the cause is found — for longan, until corrective measures are also taken. The rules set no length for that suspension. It can halt imports of that fruit from all Vietnamese exporters until the cause is resolved.
Fruit sold as food also passes the importer’s food sanitation checks in Japan, including the residue limits. What the Vietnamese grower controls is the evidence: keep spray records for every block the fruit comes from, with the product, the dose and the date, so the importer can answer a residue question from the record rather than from a guess.
The duty position, from Japan Customs’ tariff schedule as of 8 August 2026:
| Tariff line | Goods | Japan–Viet Nam EPA rate |
|---|---|---|
| 0804.50-011 | Mangoes, fresh | Free |
| 0804.50-090 | Guavas, mangoes and mangosteens, dried | Free |
| 0810.90-210 | Rambutan, passion fruit, lychee and carambola, fresh | Free |
| 0810.90-290 | Other fresh fruit of 0810.90 | Free |
A preferential rate is claimed with proof of origin under the agreement you choose, so settle that with the buyer before the price is fixed. For how Vietnam issues origin documents for the CPTPP and RCEP routes, see proof of origin from Vietnam by destination. For who pays which origin charges on an FOB or CIF booking, see Vietnam local charges by Incoterm.
Where Sunsho Trade fits, and where it does not
We find the buyer in Japan and handle the export documents, including the certificate of origin, and logistics, working with the growers, treatment facilities and packing houses in the chain; who acts as importer in Japan is agreed case by case.
Sunsho Trade acts as a sales agent and distributor for Japan. Our Japanese management approaches buyers through our business network in Japan and negotiates in Japanese. On the export side, we support the standards check, labelling, documents including the certificate of origin, and logistics.
The treatment, the designation and the certificate belong to the growers, the designated facilities and the Vietnamese authority. We will tell you plainly if a fruit cannot go fresh, and we will not quote a buyer for fruit that cannot legally land. If your range also includes woven or wooden products, the plant-quarantine question works differently. See exporting Vietnamese handicrafts to Japan.
💬 A fruit on the list, a designated facility and records you can show? Then the remaining question is who buys it. See how we sell into Japan or start the conversation with the details of your season.
Frequently asked questions
1. Which Vietnamese fresh fruits can be exported to Japan?
Four, as of 18 September 2026: dragon fruit (Hylocereus undatus and its hybrids with H. costaricensis), Cat Chu mango, Thieu lychee and longan. Each enters only under its own MAFF standard and with the treatment that standard sets. Any other fresh fruit that hosts the oriental fruit fly is prohibited.
2. Can I ship a different mango or lychee variety if it is treated the same way?
No. The mango standard covers Cat Chu only and the lychee standard covers Thieu only. Another variety of either fruit is still a prohibited fresh fruit, whatever treatment it receives. Longan has no variety restriction in its standard.
3. Is pomelo open to Japan yet?
Not as of 18 September 2026. Pomelo is not in the supplementary table of the Enforcement Regulations, either in the current text or in the amended text promulgated to take effect on 17 December 2026. When it opens, it will appear there with its own standard.
4. Does frozen fruit need a phytosanitary certificate for Japan?
Fruit that is fully solid or held at −17.8 °C or below does not need one under MAFF’s current exemption list, but it is still inspected on import. MAFF states that fruit prohibited as fresh can be imported if the officer confirms at inspection that it is frozen. Food Sanitation Act duties still apply.
5. Does Sunsho Trade treat or pack the fruit?
No. Treatment, designation and certification happen at designated facilities under Vietnam’s Department of Crop Production and Plant Protection. We act as sales agent and distributor in Japan, negotiate in Japanese and support documents, including the certificate of origin, and logistics.