Oranges and pineapples are ripe but... sales are sluggish.

SGGP 02/18/2023 08:31

Since the beginning of February, pineapples in the Northwestern provinces such as Lao Cai, Dien Bien ... have been ripe, but prices have dropped dramatically, and many garden owners do not want to harvest them.

Oranges in Ha Giang are ripe.

Muong Khuong District is the pineapple capital of Lao Cai Province with a total area of about 1,500 hectares. In the 2023 pineapple season, about 1,120 hectares of pineapple will be harvested with a total expected output of about 33,600 tons. With 1,120 hectares, Ban Lau Commune accounts for more than 90% of the total pineapple area of Muong Khuong District. Ms. Dang Thi Thuong, a pineapple hill owner in this commune, lamented: "The price of pineapples this year is so cheap but they still can't be sold."

According to Ms. Thuong, currently, if we cut and sell retail to traders, the price fluctuates between 4,000-5,000 VND/kg (enough to break even). However, each time traders only buy a few quintals to about 2-3 tons, while her family alone has about 40 tons of pineapples to consume. "If we cut and sell to the factory, we only get 3,000-3,300 VND/kg (good quality), and at that price we lose a lot, not enough to pay for fertilizer," Ms. Thuong shared. She added that in previous years, the worst-looking pineapples were sold for 5,000-6,000 VND/kg (currently this type is only advertised for 1,700-2,000 VND/kg but no one buys).

Oranges and pineapples are ripe but... sales are sluggish photo 1

Pineapple fields in Ban Lau commune (Muong Khuong district, Lao Cai) in harvest season

The owner of this pineapple hill complained that since the beginning of the season, he has only earned over 10 million VND from selling pineapples and has had to pay the fertilizer supplier for buying on credit from last year. The pineapples are still ripening but no one wants to pick them because there is no market.

According to a survey, in Muong Khuong, about 60% of pineapple output is still in the fields, unsold. Some farmers in Ban Lau commune said that a few years ago, pineapples were mainly exported to China (through open routes). But since China closed the border gates and open routes, the source of consumption for the people mainly depends on the Muong Khuong Export Vegetable Processing Factory and some other factories in Hanoi, Hung Yen, Ninh Binh...

According to the Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Muong Khuong District, Le Thanh Hoa, at this time, other pineapple regions in Thanh Hoa, Ninh Binh... are also harvesting heavily, exceeding the purchasing and consumption capacity of factories. The biggest difficulty now is that 100% of pineapples harvested in Lao Cai are waiting for factories to consume in the domestic market. If there is no market, pineapple prices may be forced to decrease further. This is the third consecutive loss for pineapple growers in the Northwest region. Although before, pineapple was the tree that helped them change their lives, creating a significant source of income for families.

According to SGGP reporters, in Muong Cha pineapple orchard (Dien Bien), pineapple prices are also falling sharply. There are about 400 hectares of pineapples here, concentrated in Muong Muon, Na Sang and Sa Long communes. Last year, people could still sell for 7,000-8,000 VND/kg, but this year it is only 3,000-4,000 VND, and sometimes traders even forced the price down to 1,000 VND/kg. Due to the low price, in some places in Lao Cai, Dien Bien..., farmers are thinking of destroying pineapples to switch to other fruits such as tea, cinnamon, bananas...

Not only pineapples, currently the prices of Cao Phong oranges (Hoa Binh), Bac Quang oranges (Ha Giang) ... are also falling sharply, although it is the end of the season. In Ha Giang, the price of oranges in the garden is only 6,000-7,000 VND/kg, and through traders or advertised on social networks, it is only 8,000-10,000 VND/kg. Although there are many customers from far away who want to buy, the gardeners still have a large amount of oranges and consumption is slow compared to previous years. In the 2022-2023 crop, Bac Quang has about 2,400 hectares of oranges, with an estimated output of over 25,000 tons, but currently only 30%-35% has been consumed, the rest is still on the trees.

In Hoa Binh province, Cao Phong oranges are being sold by traders for about 15,000-30,000 VND/kg (depending on the type) but very few people ask to buy them.

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