Son La cherry plums are in harvest season so gardeners are selling them for only 6,000 - 8,000 VND per kilogram, one-third the price of other types of plums.
Rice plums have a shape similar to imported cherries, so traders call them "cherry plums". Mr. Hoang, a plum grower in Chieng Co commune (Son La), said that this year, plum prices have dropped slightly, but there is still a profit. In previous years, gardeners often sold rice plums when the fruit was still green. For the past three years, the Covid-19 pandemic has been prolonged, so business has been slow, so they let the whole garden ripen. Since then, the demand for ripe plums has increased, many customers prefer ripe products because they are sweet and have a shape similar to cherries.
"The green fruit is crispy, while the ripe fruit has a red skin, yellow flesh and is very sweet. In addition to eating it directly, many customers also buy it to make jam or soak it in juice," said Mr. Hoang.
On the online market, cherry plums are also sold at very cheap prices, about 9,000-15,000 VND per kilogram.
Ms. Loan, a fruit wholesaler in Son La, said that the retail price of this type of plum is currently 13,000 VND per kilogram. If customers buy 10 kilograms in bulk, the price is 90,000 VND, or 9,000 VND per kilogram. If they buy more than 100 kilograms, the price drops to 8,000 VND per kilogram.
"This type is super cheap so it's quite popular. I sell a ton every day," said Ms. Loan.
Ripe plums at a garden in Son La. Photo: Le Van
Similarly, Mr. Thanh in Hanoi said that he sells several hundred kilograms of rice plums every day. Although these plums are red and ripe, they are firm and crunchy, not mushy like the ones imported from China.
According to local people, compared to plum, rice plum has low economic value. The reason why people still maintain this type of tree is because it is easy to grow. In addition to harvesting fruit, in recent years many gardeners have also pruned branches to sell flowers, so this type of tree brings stable profits.
According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Son La, the price of rice plums is low but this type has a higher yield than other types of plums. They are grown mainly in Cao Loc, Van Lang, Van Quan districts... The harvest season of rice plums lasts about 2 months (April and May). Compared to before the epidemic, the selling price of this type has decreased 3-4 times.
According to statistics, Son La currently has more than 1,000 hectares of plum area with an annual output of 3,000-4,000 tons.
Hong Chau
Source link
Comment (0)