Why did China suddenly rush to buy Vietnamese areca nuts?

Since the beginning of the areca season (August every year), the price of fresh areca nuts has continuously increased, reaching a record of 120,000 VND/kg. Many areca growers said that selling more than a ton of areca nuts can buy a tael of gold. Of which, the areca nuts with long fruits, green skin, and dense seeds are "hunted" by traders, who pay sky-high prices.

According to many traders, the price of areca nuts has increased sharply due to increased demand in the Chinese market. After being purchased, areca nuts will be imported to facilities to be dried before being exported to China, as a source of raw materials to produce areca candy, specializing in serving the market in cold countries.

In fact, China is massively buying Vietnamese areca nuts mainly because of the sharp decline in areca nut production in this country. In China, about 95% of areca nut production is grown on Hainan Island. In 2021, Hainan's areca nut growing area was 2.5 million acres, equivalent to more than 1.01 million hectares, with an output of 276,200 tons.

Among them, areca nuts in Hainan are grown in large quantities in Wanning City, where half of the population is over 300,000 areca nut growers, with an area of ​​about 534,000 acres, equivalent to more than 216,000 hectares. In 2021, the value of this industry in Wanning exceeded 14 billion yuan, accounting for more than half of the city's GDP.

In recent years, the area of ​​areca cultivation on Hainan Island has decreased sharply (Photo: Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences).

However, in recent years, the local betel nut production has dropped sharply due to a series of betel nut gardens being affected by yellow leaf disease. "Not only in Wanning City, but also in Qionghai County, Lingshui County and other surrounding areas, are the areca trees are widely infected, with a preliminary estimate of about 60% of the areca area," Fu Xiqiang, chairman of the Betel Nut Association in Wanning City, said in June, according to Beijing News.

In particular, Typhoon Yagi, which hit Hainan Island in early September, also caused severe damage to a series of areca orchards in the locality. Therefore, areca prices in China, especially in Hainan Island, have continuously set new records recently.

According to the Hainan Provincial Price Monitoring Center, on October 18, the average purchase price of areca nuts in the locality increased to 44.27 yuan/jin (equivalent to more than 155,000 VND/0.5 kg), an increase of more than 175% compared to the same period last year. Previously, at the end of September, the average price of this item was only 34.7 yuan/jin (equivalent to more than 122,000 VND/0.5 kg).

Snacks made from betel leaves are sold at Chinese convenience stores (Photo: Sohu).

According to the Hunan Provincial Information Portal, Chinese areca nuts are produced in Hainan but are mainly processed and consumed in Hunan. From the original local specialty dish of Xiangtan (Hunan), it has now become popular in 23 Chinese provinces and cities such as Guangdong, Shanghai and Beijing.

Previously, in China, areca nut was used as an important medicinal herb, with anti-aging, anti-oxidant, digestive aid, and hypoglycemic effects... In addition, in this country, areca nut is also used as an ingredient in products such as chewing gum, energy drinks, snacks...

However, in recent years, discoveries of carcinogens from areca nuts have caused Chinese regulatory agencies to tighten advertising and business activities of products related to betel and areca nuts.

Source: https://baodaknong.vn/vi-sao-trung-quoc-bat-ngo-o-at-gom-mua-cau-viet-nam-232234.html