VietNamNet Bridge – Despite a bountiful fruit crop, farmers in Mekong Delta have been distressed because the fruit prices have dropped dramatically.

Fruit price decreases put farmers on tenterhooks

Rambutan growers in Vinh Long, Ben Tre, Tra Vinh, Hau Giang, Can Tho and Tien Giang are weeping because the prices have plummeted. Having a bountiful crop, but farmers do not feel happy, because the sale prices are not high enough to cover the expenses. Java rambutan is now wholesaling at just 1500-2000 dong per kilo, or 3-4 times lower than that of the same period of the last year.

Nguyen Chau Khanh in Vinh Long province said that he has 2000 square meters of rambutan field, and he could earn 12 million dong from the field, while the total expenses reached 15 million dong.

Khanh complained that the rambutan price was very high several months ago, but it has unexpectedly dropped dramatically, thus bringing big losses to farmers.

The rambutan price dropped to the deepest low in Cho Lach district of Ben Tre province, where there are 2400 hectares of rambutan growing area. Farmers all have reported high output, but they feel sad because the prices are too low: they can sell rambutan for 1500 dong per kilo, while the production cost is double, 3000-5000 dong per kilo.

Bui Thanh Liem, Head of the Agriculture Division of Cho Lach district’s authorities, also said that with such low prices, farmers are incurring heavy losses.

“Rambutan is usually exported to China and South Korea. However, the consumption of the two markets has decreased over the last two years, while the domestic demand is weak, which explains why the fruit remains unsalable,” he said.

The same problem is also occurring with Vietnamese pomelo. Huynh Van Nhi from Vinh Long province complained that not only rambutan, but pomelo has also seen the prices plunging. “Now farmers can only sell pomelo to merchants at 3500 dong per kilo, while the price was 4500 dong per kilo last month,” he said.

Meanwhile, local farmers have been warned that the pomelo price would keep decreasing in the time to come, because Chinese pomelo would be available in the market in the last months of the year.

Key fruits also unsalable

A lot of fruit kiosks have been temporarily set up along the big roads in Can Tho City, including Cach Mang Thang Tam, April 30, or February 3, where fruits of different kinds, from rambutan, dragon fruits to cassava and grapes, are selling at surprisingly low prices.

Le Thi Tuoi, a fruit seller said that she can sell 300 kilos of fruits every day and earns 1000-2000 dong for every kilo sold. Especially, Tuoi said dragon fruit is the cheapest product the days, with the retail price staying at 3000 dong per kilo. Meanwhile, rambutan is retailing at 7000 dong per kilo.

Doan Van Bay from Go Cong Tay district in Tien Giang province, said that he has to carry dragon fruit to retail on the 1A highway, because the wholesale price is too low.

“Here I can sell dragon fruit at 3300 dong per kilo, while merchants only pay 2000 dong per kilo at my orchard,” he said. With the sale prices, farmers only can get enough money to pay for harvesting, while they incur the loss of 30 million dong per hectare.

It is quite a surprise that the prices of dragon fruit, a key export item, have decreased so dramatically. Dr Nguyen Huu Dat from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said that it is now the high harvesting season, therefore, the supply is higher than the demand. Therefore, Dat said that it is necessary to schedule the dragon fruit growing so as to ensure stable supply and stabilize the market.

Source: NLD