Fruit exports face surplus crisis

With the sharp drop in jackfruit export prices, Mr. Nguyen Van Quyet (a farmer in Xuan Bac commune, Xuan Loc district) has reduced the jackfruit growing area and switched to other crops. Photo: B.Nguyen

In recent years, the area of many types of fresh fruit for export such as mango, banana, jackfruit, durian, etc. has been increasing rapidly. Farmers mainly focus on output without really investing in quality, as well as meeting the standards of the export market. Accordingly, many exported fruits that once brought high income are also facing a surplus crisis.

Exported fruits also flood the market

Taiwanese mango exports used to be among the top in terms of bringing good profits to farmers because of their high yield and good selling price. However, in the recent harvest, mango farmers were left empty-handed, with many gardeners even suffering heavy losses due to unprecedented fall in mango prices.

Every year, with more than 2.4 hectares of mango trees, Mr. Pham Van Tuyen, Head of the Farmers' Association of Phu Quy 2 Hamlet (La Nga Commune, Dinh Quan District), harvested about 50 tons. This year, due to a bad harvest, Mr. Tuyen's family's mango garden only harvested about 25 tons. Last year, the highest price for mangoes was more than 30,000 VND/kg, and the price at the end of the season was about 10,000 VND/kg. But this year, during the season, traders paid 5,000 VND/kg. Exports were difficult, and the price of mangoes fell, causing traders to abandon their deposits and not harvest. This is the reason why Mr. Tuyen's mangoes could not be sold to anyone, so they had to let them ripen and fall all over the ground.

Sharing the same sentiment, Mr. Le Van Hoang, a mango farmer in La Nga commune, sadly expressed that from 2020 until now, this has been the most difficult year for mango farmers. Mango prices are low but traders still do not buy because of slow export, while Taiwanese mangoes are not favored by domestic consumers. Accordingly, his family's 10 tons of mangoes could not find traders to buy, so he had to let them ripen because with the price of 1,000 VND/kg, the selling price is not enough to cover the harvest costs.

The whole province currently has nearly 78.3 thousand hectares of fruit trees. Of which, the largest area is occupied by fruit trees with export advantages, including: bananas with 16.7 thousand hectares, mangoes with 11.6 thousand hectares, durians with 11.5 thousand hectares, and grapefruits with 10.3 thousand hectares.

This is not just a story of mangoes, but many other exported fruits are also in a state of market congestion due to difficulties in exporting. Currently, Thai jackfruit sold in the garden, the selected export type is only about 3 thousand VND/kg, sold in bulk is only 1 thousand VND/kg. The Indian almond jackfruit, which is mainly used for processing and exporting, currently has no buyers, many gardeners have to sell in bulk at a cheap price to feed goats and cows.

Mr. Nguyen Van Quyet, a farmer growing 2 hectares of jackfruit in Xuan Bac commune (Xuan Loc district), shared that he had to cut down some of the jackfruit area in his garden to switch to other crops. The reason is that the investment cost of growing jackfruit is higher than that of perennial industrial crops. Meanwhile, when it comes to harvest time, if traders do not buy it, they have to dump it, instead of storing it like industrial crops. In particular, in the past 2-3 years, fresh fruit products have often been flooded and prices have dropped because the requirements of the export market have become increasingly strict.

Proactively respond to market changes

The sharp decline in export prices of many fresh fruits is due to the fact that many importing countries are tightening technical barriers with increasingly high requirements for product quality. Specifically, even easy-going markets like China have set many new, stricter regulations on maximum residue levels of pesticides and on plant quarantine.

Vice Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Dinh Quan District Doan Guong Mau said that with 6,000 hectares, Dinh Quan District is leading in mango growing area in the province with an output of about 10,000 tons. In the recent harvest, mango prices dropped, causing many difficulties for farmers. Although there are fresh fruit processing enterprises in the district, they hardly sell their products to farmers. The locality has also linked up with many enterprises that purchase key local fresh fruits such as mango and durian, but they are still stuck in the problem of "good harvest, low price" because they have not yet built a sustainable chain.

When the competitive advantage of fresh fruit in the current export market is quality rather than low price, Vietnam's fresh fruit industry is increasingly revealing its weaknesses.

Nguyen Van Muoi, Deputy General Secretary of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, commented that farmers compete to grow any crop that is good for export and has a high price, without paying attention to planning or market orientation. Farmers still grow crops based on experience, so each garden has its own style. In order for fresh fruit to meet export market standards, it is necessary to develop a standard process from breeding, safe production to packaging, preliminary processing, processing, and consumption.

From the perspective of a processing enterprise, Director of Thuan Huong Production and Trading Company Limited (Dinh Quan District) Liu Tac Sang shared that since the beginning of the year, not only fresh fruits but also agricultural products and processed fruits have encountered difficulties in output. General economic difficulties have slowed down consumption in both domestic and export markets, making it difficult for enterprises to boost processing. On the other hand, the requirement for fresh fruit raw materials for processing is to have large output and stable prices. For fresh fruits with export strengths, when exported well, the selling price is very high, so enterprises are forced to find other sources of raw materials.

Binh Nguyen

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/kinh-te/202506/trai-cay-xuat-khau-doi-mat-voi-khung-hoang-thua-54d00e9/