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Farmers fear dragon fruit glut
Dragon fruit farmers in the south-central province of Binh Thuan are fretting over a possible surplus due to low consumption since early December, said an official of the province’s dragon fruit association.
Nguyen Thuan, vice chairman of the Binh Thuan Dragon Fruit Association, told the Daily on Tuesday that the price had plunged to VND6,000 per kg from last month’s VND9,000.
“China, which consumes 80% of the province’s dragon fruit, has considerably reduced imports this month. Weekly exports to China and Taiwan are only tens of tons compared to the previous 300 tons,” Thuan said.
The export price of Binh Thuan’s dragon fruit to China has slid 30% from last month to VND6,000 per kg.
Anticipating high demand during the holiday season, most of the province’s dragon fruit growers in September invested heavily and used electric lamps all night for a bigger off-season harvest.
Thuan put the current area under dragon fruit cultivation in the province at 10,000 hectares, with 8,000 hectares artificially lit.
Europe holds 5% of the province’s dragon fruit export and its imports have also slowed down.
According to the association, after exporting four shipments to the United States, Hoang Hau Dragon Fruit Company Limited and other exporters in the province are having trouble exporting to America due to an obstruction from radiation testing.
Son Son Aquatic Products Processing Joint Stock Company in HCMC’s Binh Tan District is the only unit in southern Vietnam authorized to do radioactive testing for fruit heading for the U.S.
The testing is a compulsory process to eliminate larvae.
“We’re in negotiations with a Florida company to build a US$10 million radiation testing center in Phan Thiet City to help dragon fruit exporters,” Hai told the Daily.
According to the Binh Thuan Dragon Fruit Development Center, many farmers in Ham Thuan Nam, Ham Thuan Bac, Ham Tan and Bac Binh districts of the province have been expanding dragon fruit cultivation as they expected more profits from other crops.
Total production of the fruit is nearly 200,000 tons per year.
Vietnam now has a total dragon fruit cultivation area of 17,000 hectares with total annual output of 425,000 tons.
SGT
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