Dragon fruit growers empty-handed as prices nose-dive to around VND1,000 per kg

The price of dragon fruits in Binh Thuan Province has currently plunged to VND500-VND1,000 per kg. Many dragon fruit growers are empty-handed in the dragon fruit crop serving the 2022 Lunar New Year market.
Dragon fruit growers empty-handed as prices nose-dive to around VND1,000 per kg ảnh 1 At present, traders only buy the most beautiful dragon fruits with green scales to find a way to export by sea. (Photo: SGGP)
On January 10, it was recorded that the price of dragon fruits purchased at the field in Binh Thuan Province was only from VND500 to VND1,000 per kg. At present, traders only buy the most beautiful dragon fruits with green scales to find a way to export by sea.

Le Thi Phuong, a trader in Ham Thuan Nam District in Binh Thuan Province, said that off-season dragon fruits were ripening with an extremely high output. However, because dragon fruits could not be exported by road to China, the price dropped drastically. Many traders have now stopped buying.

In the morning of the same day, no traders came to buy dragon fruits in key growing areas of Binh Thuan Province, such as Ham Thuan Nam and Ham Thuan Bac districts, although a large area of dragon fruits has ripened.

Le Phuong, a farmer in Ham Thuan Bac District, said that he could never imagine that the price of dragon fruits would only be at a few hundred Vietnamese dongs per kg before the Lunar New Year. Fruits of his nearly 500 dragon fruit plants have ripened for a few days, but at such price, if dragon fruits could be sold, it would be to clean his garden. He would not earn any profit from this dragon fruit crop to celebrate the Tet holiday.

Le Thi An, a farmer in Ham My Commune in Ham Thuan Nam District, said that off-season dragon fruits for the Tet market must reach VND10,000-VND15,000 per kg for farmers to recover their capital. However, the highest price that traders offered was only VND1,000 per kg, so farmers were empty-handed.

Mr. Huynh Canh, Vice Chairman of Binh Thuan Dragon Fruit Association, said that over 80% of the local dragon fruit production was mainly exported to China. At present, the export by road to this market has been temporarily suspended, leading to a backlog of dragon fruits. Local businesses are now looking to export by sea.

"Currently, exporting dragon fruits by sea is overloaded, leading to a shortage of containers to transport goods. The cost of exporting by sea is too high, nearly VND200 million per container, 3-4 times higher than before. Hence, the price of dragon fruits has dropped significantly," Mr. Huynh Canh informed.

According to Mr. Phan Van Tan, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Binh Thuan Province, the province has been coordinating with related sectors to support market promotion for dragon fruits in the direction of valuing the domestic market, strengthening the expansion of cooperation, and developing distribution channels with localities across the country, especially the markets of Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. At the same time, it should diversify and strengthen expanding the export markets to countries around the world. Especially, it is essential to increase official export.

Along with that, authorities should encourage the development of the dragon fruit processing industry and support enterprises to invest in factories to process all kinds of products and goods from dragon fruits, such as crispy dried dragon fruit, chewy dried dragon fruit, dragon fruit juice, dragon fruit wine, cakes, jams, and candies, to take advantage of local raw materials.

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