In recent days, the family of Mr. Bui Thanh Dam, a member of the Phuoc Dinh Yellow Apricot Blossom Village Cooperative (Binh Hoa Phuoc commune, Long Ho district, Vinh Long province), has been anxious as Tet approaches and very few traders come to buy their apricot blossoms, or if they do, they force prices down. This situation has left him feeling like he's "sitting on a powder keg" because he fears sales will be worse than in Tet 2023.
"Last year's Tet was difficult, but this year is even more challenging. Anticipating the situation, my family didn't import much at the beginning of the year; we're keeping only what we have to sell."
"What saddens us most is that traders know the gardeners need to sell, so they aggressively drive down prices. For example, my apricot blossom tree was advertised for 100 million VND last year, but now traders are only offering 70 million VND. Even within the Cooperative, there are cases where an apricot blossom tree was advertised for over 90 million VND, but traders only offered 45-50 million VND," Mr. Dam shared.
According to Mr. Dam, there are many reasons why yellow apricot blossoms will not be popular in Tet 2024, the majority of which is due to the difficult economic situation, leading to limited demand for apricot blossoms.
On the other hand, for many families in the city, due to limited land area, they only buy apricot blossom trees for the Tet holiday, and then they entrust them to nurseries for care in preparation for the following year, so the number of buyers has decreased significantly.
"Not only me, but many other gardeners in this cooperative are currently worried about the possibility of the flowers blooming too early. There's no way to prevent this because the weather changes with the leap year. Anyway, from the 15th day of the 12th lunar month onwards, we'll be stripping the leaves and restricting water for the flowers. We've decided to maintain the initial price and continue to hope that the ornamental flower market will pick up in the days leading up to Tet so that flower growers can enjoy a complete Tet holiday. As for setting a sales target for this year, no one dares to think about it," Mr. Dam confided.
Currently, Mr. Dam owns more than 40 apricot blossom trees, with prices ranging from 5 million to 100 million VND (depending on size, trunk, and shape). In addition to growing apricot blossom trees, his family also grows longan trees to maintain their income.
In Can Tho City, Mr. Nguyen Van Truyen (Binh Thuy District) is also worried about the low demand for bougainvillea flowers as Tet approaches. Mr. Truyen said that in previous years, people would call or come to see and buy them as early as November, but this year, by the beginning of December, only one or two people had inquired before leaving. Meanwhile, the prices of materials and fertilizers are constantly increasing, causing hardship for many ornamental flower growers in Can Tho.
"Besides taking care of the flowers to prepare them for sale, we always have to monitor the market. We can't set low prices because we still need to pay for pesticides and labor, but we also can't charge too high prices because everyone is struggling financially. Seeing the business declining, I sometimes feel worried, but my passion is making ornamental plants for Tet, so I have to stick with the profession. I know purchasing power will be low this year, but I still hope people will buy a few plants to decorate for Tet to create a festive atmosphere," Mr. Truyen said.
Reportedly, this year Mr. Truyen's garden boasts over 200 large and small bougainvillea plants. The majority are Thai multi-colored bougainvillea, grafted with 3 to 7 colors on each plant. Prices range from 1 million to 28 million VND per plant, depending on size.
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