Western durian sold on the roadside for only 30,000 VND/kg

sầu riêng miền Tây - Ảnh 1. — Beautiful durian fruit for sale at only 30,000 VND/kg - Photo: MAU TRUONG

Cheap durian selling points everywhere

According to records on National Highway 1, through Chau Thanh District, Cai Lay District and Cai Lay Town ( Tien Giang Province), dozens of durian retail outlets have sprung up on both sides of the road. Most of these durian outlets have only sprung up in the last month or so, since durian prices plummeted.

The common feature of these durian retail outlets is that they do not need to rent a space, they just need a place to display durian and a price board to put up on the roadside so that customers know the price.

At Mrs. Bay Lan's durian selling point located on National Highway 1, through Chau Thanh district, Tien Giang province, groups of customers continuously come in to choose and buy.

Every few dozen minutes, a few people on motorbikes stop by, and occasionally, buses from the West to Ho Chi Minh City also stop by for passengers to get off and buy durian.

“I have only been selling for over half a month, selling a few hundred kilos a day is normal, sometimes even selling a ton,” said Ms. Bay Lan.

She confirmed that the durian she sells comes from two sources. The first source is buying durian from warehouses and export companies. The second source is buying in bulk (buying without sorting, buying at the same price) from the garden and then sorting and selling at different prices.

Even though the price is 30,000 VND/kg, when customers come to buy, only a small corner of the pile of durian on display has that price, the rest will have many different prices, ranging from 30,000 - 60,000 VND/kg.

On national highways such as N2 (Long An province); National Highway 60 ( Ben Tre province); National Highway 50 (Tien Giang province) and some routes in Can Tho city, Hau Giang... cheap durian is also sold everywhere. While some people are still hesitant to buy cheap durian to eat, there are also many people who "take advantage of eating when durian is cheap".

Cheap is just that...

Having just bought cheap durian on Highway 60, passing through Ben Tre province, Ms. Nguyen Thuy Trang (48 years old, living in Tien Giang province) said this was the second time she bought cheap durian on the roadside.

“The first time I bought it on Highway 1, through Cai Lay town, I left it overnight and split it open to eat. It was delicious. But there were too few segments. This time I also bought it at a cheap price but bought it all the way from Ben Tre, because I was on my way back from a funeral.

This time the fruit is more beautiful than the last time and has more pits. Hopefully it will yield more rice. It’s been a long time since we’ve had cheap durian, so I’ll eat it to satisfy my craving!”, Trang said with a smile.

Not everyone dares to eat cheap durian like Ms. Trang. Some people are worried that cheap durian is not of guaranteed quality and is afraid that it has been dipped in toxic chemicals.

However, according to a seller, the reason durian is sold at a cheap price is because this is the product that traders reject due to worms, thick skin or unripe flesh. In addition, the most obvious point is that cheap durian only has one or two compartments (two segments), so even though it is cheap to buy, when cut open and calculated according to the durian flesh, it is expensive.

For example, if you buy a 6.5kg durian, you can only get two segments weighing about 1kg. Meanwhile, if you buy durian pulp, it will only cost about 180,000 VND at current prices.

When asked why durians bought at the garden cost 40,000 VND, sometimes even up to 200,000 VND/kg, but durians sold on the roadside cost only 30,000 VND, Mr. T. - a durian trader, said that durians sold on the roadside are drifting durians. Usually these fruits only have one compartment, some have rotten bottoms (damaged bottoms of durians), pests...

Currently, many durian companies and warehouses in Cai Be, Cai Lay districts and Cai Lay town (Tien Giang province) are offering Ri 6 durian at 40,000 - 45,000 VND/kg; Thai durian is priced at 40,000 - 80,000 VND/kg.

With the prices offered by the companies, traders will buy at the garden for 15,000 - 20,000 VND/kg lower. That means the price of Ri 6 durian bought at the garden is about 20,000 - 35,000 VND/kg. Meanwhile, Thai durian bought at the garden is priced at 40,000 - 60,000 VND/kg.

Previously, businesses mainly purchased durian from Western gardens to export to the Chinese market.

However, due to difficulties in export, mainly due to China tightening cadmium inspection, the company has temporarily stopped exporting durian to this market.