Price of dragon fruit increased sharply after Tet

After a period of time, dragon fruit prices are continuously low, since after the Lunar New Year of Buffalo 2021 until now, the price of dragon fruits has risen again. Specifically, the price of red flesh type I dragon fruit ranges from 28,000 to 32,000 VND per kilo, and white flesh dragon fruit is 12,000-15,000 VND per kilo.

Businesses promote purchasing to supply orders from China

After Tet, the price of dragon fruit increased again, making growers excited. Compared with the time before Tet holiday, now, the price of dragon fruit has increased 5 times. Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tam, living in Binh Tri 1 hamlet, Phu Ngai Tri commune, Chau Thanh district, Long An province, said that dragon fruit prices have been purchased by traders at high prices, from 18,000 - 32,000 VND per kilo since Tet holiday until now (depending on type), they were only 5,000-6,000 VND per kilo before Tet, so growers have heavy losses.

Mr. Tam's family has 0.5 hectare of dragon fruit applying lighting technique, harvested output of about 2.5 tons before Tet, but he only sells for 7,000 VND per kilo; while to make a profit, the selling price must be over 10,000 VND per kilo. According to Mr. Tam, although traders now buy at high prices, most farmers do not have dragon fruits for sale. Currently, on average 10 households, only 1-2 households have dragon fruits for sale at this time.

Ms. Le Thi Chon, living in Cau Van hamlet, An Luc Long commune, Chau Thanh district, said that very few gardens still have ripe dragon fruits for sale after Tet holiday due to low prices before Tet, many people decide not to turn the lights on for dragon fruit at night to avoid losses. In this phase, her family has 0.3 hectare of dragon fruit at the harvest stage, estimated at about 2 tons. Ms. Chon said: “In this case, dragon fruits yielded a bit small, so traders only bought 21,000 VND per kilo. However, my family is also very excited because after more than 1 year of all losses, the new year will have profits from selling dragon fruit. This will be the motivation for my family to invest in production for the next generation of dragon fruits”.

According to the Provincial Dragon Fruit Association, in the past year, the price of dragon fruit in the province was low, ranging from 5,000-7,000 VND per kilo (all types), sometimes down to 3,000-5,000 VND per kilo (all types), the reason is that exports to China were affected by the Covid-19 epidemic and little consumption demand.

Currently, more than 80 percent of the dragon fruit output of the province is mainly consumed in the Chinese market, so when the export is in trouble, it causes output blockage, the price of dragon fruit also decreases deeply. In addition, the Chinese market is also raising barriers to phytosanitary measures, promulgating stricter regulations. Therefore, businesses from China order less dragon fruits. However, since the Lunar New Year until now, the consumer demand from China has suddenly increased again, the source of dragon fruit is not much, so the price has increased quite quickly from 9,000-11,000 VND per kilo (all types) up to now has more than 30,000 VND per kilo.

Some businesses buying dragon fruits in the province said that from the Lunar New Year until now, they have received many orders for dragon fruits from China with relatively high purchasing prices. The reason given by businesses is that the Chinese side is now scarce dragon fruit and the transportation of goods through the border gates is also more open and easier.

Director of Hoang Phat Food Company - Nguyen Hoang Huy said: “The company specializes in purchasing dragon fruits for export to China. Recently, there are many orders from China, so businesses step up buying dragon fruits at high prices. However, the source of goods in the province is not much. Therefore, many companies have come to Binh Thuan to buy dragon fruits for customers”.

According to statistics from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Chau Thanh district, the total dragon fruit growing area of the district is 9,100 hectares of which the white dragon fruit is 600 hectares, the red dragon fruit is 8,500 hectares, the fruit is producing 8,500 hectares. The estimated output in 2020 will reach over 297,500 tons.

Chairman of the Provincial Dragon fruit Association - Nguyen Quoc Trinh informed: “As noted, the ripe dragon fruit at this time is very few and the quantity of quality fruit for export enterprises is not much. Currently, most dragon fruit buying businesses in the province only receive orders from China in a short time, not long-term contracts, so dragon fruit congestion due to oversupply in the season. Harvest can recur. Therefore, in order to develop long-term and sustainable dragon fruits, people need to pay more attention to changing their thinking of production, changing from traditional production to clean production, improving the quality of dragon fruits to new, more demanding markets. Thereby, it gradually reduces dependence on the Chinese market, opens up new directions for dragon fruit, brings stable profits for dragon fruit growers”./.