Orange prices fall again

In favorable season, the amount of oranges increases a lot while purchasing power is slow.

Recently, in the orange growing areas, farmers have been restless because the price of oranges has dropped sharply, causing farmers to suffer heavy losses.

Favorable season: Orange price drops

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Ky (Tra Con commune, Tra On district) has 6 hectares of oranges that are past harvest time but he has not been able to sell them despite contacting traders many times. Mr. Ky said: “Traders haggle, if the oranges are beautiful, they will buy them for 2,500 VND/kg, but my oranges are out of season, ripe as yellow as tangerines, so traders will pay 2,000 VND/kg. But I still have not been able to sell them.”

Similar to Mr. Ky's garden, many orange gardens that are ready for harvest have difficulty selling their oranges. If they can sell them, they are sold at very low prices. In some places, traders no longer buy oranges by the kilo but by the garden at dirt cheap prices.

Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh (Hieu Nghia commune, Vung Liem district) expressed: "This time, my orange garden is expected to harvest about 40 tons. Recently, traders came to the garden to buy at a price of only 2,500 VND/kg.

At this price, we will definitely lose 40-50 million VND/acre. But the trees are ready to be harvested, so we have to sell them because if we don't sell them and wait for the price to stay high, we will only get a few more days. If we wait too long, the trees will become stunted, reducing the yield for the next crop, and even leading to the death of the trees.

Mr. Nguyen Van Tam - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Tra On district, said: This is a favorable season, the price of oranges is unstable, households growing oranges with links can sell at 6,000-7,000 VND/kg. Meanwhile, households growing outside have more difficulty selling, sometimes selling at 3,000-4,000 VND/kg, lower than the initial investment price.

According to many traders, the current low price of oranges to consumers is due to the favorable season. While this fruit is only used for domestic consumption, supply is far exceeding demand. Some traders predict that from now until the end of the year, the price of oranges will hardly improve as the market in the northern provinces is gradually narrowing due to the cold season, causing a sharp decrease in demand for oranges.

Meanwhile, in Vinh Long City, there are also many places selling oranges at prices ranging from 4,000-7,000 VND/kg, however, purchasing power is not high. Ms. Phan Thi Thao, a trader at Ward 4 Market (Vinh Long City) said: "I import oranges sparingly, taking as much as I can because they sell too slowly, and oranges that are too ripe will spoil quickly. Normally, I deliver to my customers, but now they don't take them anymore."

Need long term solution

According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the area of growing oranges has continuously increased at a very rapid rate over the past 5 years, and has now doubled compared to the planning by 2020.

The reason is that the profit from this crop is so attractive, the price of oranges in the years 2015-2020 is always high, especially in the off-season, the price of oranges can reach 13,000-18,000 VND/kg. Meanwhile, farmers have applied many technical measures for cultivation, so the yield of oranges has continuously improved, increasing from 36.6 tons/ha (2019) to 44.1 tons/ha (2023), with many gardens yielding nearly 100 tons/ha.

Therefore, the output of oranges has exceeded 900,000 tons/year. With the current cultivation scale (18,000 hectares, average yield 70 tons/ha), if production is spread out all year round, on average farmers in the province will sell about 3,000 tons of oranges/day to the market, making it very difficult to sell.

Meanwhile, according to Mr. Nguyen Van Liem - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, currently, investment costs for producing pomelos are also increasing in direct proportion to the output.

The reason is that the prices of fertilizers, pesticides, pumping materials, labor, seeds, and ropes to support the orange trees when they bear fruit have also increased very high. The average production cost is nearly 8,000 VND/kg, equivalent to an investment value of over 350 million VND/ha. That is not to mention some cases where farmers rent land to grow oranges at a cost of 50-80 million VND/ha/year.

“In recent years, farmers have continuously expanded their acreage, leading to a sharp increase in output. Purchasing power is weak but supply is too large, leading to a situation of “supply exceeding demand”. In addition, oranges are an agricultural product that cannot be processed or packaged for long-term preservation, so export is still limited,” Mr. Nguyen Van Liem added.

To limit the situation of hot growth of oranges, supply exceeding demand, according to Mr. Nguyen Van Liem, it is necessary to develop models applying high technology to orange production, producing in the direction of organic, ecological agriculture, moving towards synchronous application of advanced, safe production processes, with post-harvest preservation technology, in order to improve productivity and product quality for future consumption and export.

In addition, when farmers want to switch to growing oranges, they must carefully study their farm conditions. When wanting to grow oranges on rice fields, they must concentrate on areas with conditions, avoiding spreading, leopard skin, difficulty in managing water and other conditions.

Orange prices are cheap, many orange gardens are overripe.

“In addition, it is recommended to research and invest in science and technology projects on processing products from pomelos, in order to transfer processing technology and create value-added products for localities.

In the immediate future, it is necessary to support localities in promoting trade to find outlets for orange products in the Central and Northern markets and neighboring countries. In the long term, it is recommended that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development negotiate official exports to China,” Mr. Nguyen Van Liem suggested.

Cheap oranges, unsold, farmers sell at a loss, many farmers no longer want to take care of their orange gardens. This situation is very worrying because it will greatly affect the lives of farmers, and also negatively impact the economic and social development of the locality.

Some orange farmers said that the current orange price situation is somewhat similar to last year. At this time last year, orange prices were low, and many farmers held onto their fruit until after Tet. However, after Tet, orange prices were even cheaper, at a record low, and farmers were still unable to sell them. Farmers hope that localities and relevant agencies will have specific solutions so that this year's orange crop does not repeat the situation of "rescuing" oranges like last year.

Article and photos: TRA MY

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