VietNamNet Bridge – Being watchful over Chinese toxic goods, Vietnamese consumers have turned their back to many kinds of farm produce. As a result, real Vietnamese farm produce have been unsalable.

Gourds and pumpkins, the antipyretic vegetables favored by Vietnamese housewives on hot summer days, have been selling very slowly.

Though the selling prices of the vegetables have decreased sharply, they remain unsalable, because consumers fear these could be sourced from China. Since it’s very difficult for consumers to tell the difference between Chinese and Vietnamese products, they would rather not to buy these vegetables.

The “invasion” of Chinese products to Vietnam has been step by step killing the domestic agriculture production, not because the products are more competitive than domestic products, but because Chinese products have disseminated the fear among Vietnamese consumers.

Vietnamese fruits unsalable because they are dirt cheap

Watermelons have been available everywhere in Hanoi, from the pavement kiosks to fruit shops, from traditional markets to modern supermarkets. The sellers said they have to ease the selling prices sharply, but the sale still has been going very slowly.

“Consumers think these are Chinese watermelons, therefore, they refuse to buy the fruits,” a seller on Nguyen Trai street said.

The merchants at traditional markets also complain that pumpkins cannot be sold, though the selling price is “next to nothing”, also because Vietnamese fear the pumpkins are from China. In their thoughts, Chinese goods mean toxic and low quality products.

Nguyen Thi Giang in Cau Giay district said she never buys the fruits or vegetables displayed on the pavements. “They (the sellers) are very artful. They swear their products are Vietnamese, but in fact, the products are Chinese. I will not pay money for Chinese goods, even though they are very cheap,” Giang said.

Dinh Thi Anh Tuyet, 65, on Ho Tung Mau Street, also said she does not care about the products sold on the pavement, because the majority of the products are Chinese. “You will have to pay a heavy price if you buy Chinese goods,” she warned.

Thuong, a small merchant at the Dich Vong Market, complained that Vietnamese housewives try to cut down the amounts of vegetables and fruits they use everyday just because of the fear for Chinese goods.

“They (the customers) always ask if the produce is from China. And they don’t believe me if I say these are grown by Vietnamese farmers,” she said.

Chinese imports make Vietnamese agriculture suffer

Vietnamese farmers have been in distress because their farm produce have been unsalable, though they have to sell produce at a loss.

Gourd prices have decreased by VND2,000  per kilo, while pumpkin prices by VND3,000. Lemon now sells at VND25,000 per kilo, a sharp reduction of VND10,000 per kilo. Meanwhile, the prices of some popular fruits have been halved in comparison with earlier this summer.

Nguyen Thi Trang, who grows pumpkins on 5 sao (one sao = 360 square meters) of land in Vinh Phuc province, said with the production cost of VND2 million for a sao of pumpkin and gourd, and the selling price of VND1,500 per kilo, farmers cannot make profit.

Bao Han