Dragon fruits in short supply as prices climb

China short of dragon fruit

Huynh Canh, Vice Chairman of the Dragon Fruit Association of Binh Thuan Province, said, dragon fruit prices have been climbing, averaging VND20,000 per kilo. However, only few farmers could harvest a large quantity for sale.

The reason is that dragon fruit production is ordinarily low during the break between off-season and main season. Additional to that, over the last cropping seasons dragon fruit growers couldn't sell their fruits or they had to sell the fruit at low prices due to the Covid-19 outbreaks, so they removed flowers and fruits from the cactus plants in this crop.

"For almost a month now, Binh Thuan dragon fruit has been sold out because the fruit is currently in short supply in China, leading to high demand and increased prices," Canh said.

According to the Vice Chairman of the Dragon Fruit Association of Binh Thuan Province, dragon fruit is now sold for CNY200 per box (17kilos) equivalent VND700,000 per box or around VND41,000 per kilo on the Chinese market. However, at present, Binh Thuan dragon fruit growers do not have enough fruits for sale as they can harvest only a few quintals at most.

Nguyen Tanh, a senior dragon fruit farmer in village No.5, Ham Lien commune (Ham Thuan Bac District) expressed surprise, saying that dragon fruit prices have been skyrocketing, varying between VND20,000 and VND22,000 per kilo. At present, traders are rushing for dragon fruits but the production is inconsiderable.

Tanh said, never before have dragon fruit prices been so high at this time. Prior the Covid-19 pandemic, the prices in the same time usually ranged from VND5,000 to VND8,000 per kilo.

On the other hand, because dragon fruit prices plunged over the past years, many growers decided to remove flowers of the cactus plants. Even Tanh's family abandoned the plants in this crop. Therefore, dragon fruit farmers in Binh Thuan hope that the prices will remain high in the time to come.

Updated with all changes at border gates in Lang Son

On May 30, the Department of Industry and Trade of Binh Thuan province received official dispatch No.866 of its Lang Son counterpart informing of customs clearance capacity at the border gates in Lang Son.

Accordingly, Lang Son has maintained customs clearance operations at 4 border gates including Huu Nghi international border gate, Dong Dang railway station international border gate, Chi Ma main border gate and Tan Thanh sub-border gate.

Particularly, the Huu Nghi - Huu Nghi Quan and Tan Thanh - Po Chai border gates have been launching contactless delivery model by cutting and connecting containers at the yard and deploying digital border gate platform. As a result, customs clearance capacity has rose by more than 30% compared to April 2022.

The Chi Ma - Ai Diem border gates has conducted customs clearance for only import goods so far because China has still imposed strict border controls to prevent Covid-19 outbreaks.

To make the prevention and control of Covid-19 outbreaks effectively and to build trust with the China side, the People's Committee of Lang Son province on May 24 issued Plan No.25/PA-UBND on establishing "green zones" to ensure the prevention and control of Covid-19 pandemic and to facilitate export and import activities at Huu Nghi, Tan Thanh and Chi Ma border gates.

The strategy includes the contents: traffic directional distribution; exit and entry control, dealing with F0 cases and violations. The plan becomes effective from June 1 until further notice.

According to the Binh Thuan Department of Industry and Trade, to ensure smooth exports of agricultural products, especially Binh Thuan dragon fruit and to avoid traffic congestion at the border gates, the Department of Industry and Trade of Binh Thuan province called for cooperation from relevant departments, agencies and units to disseminate the content of Plan No.25 issued by the People's Committee of Lang Son province to enterprises in Binh Thuan.

In addition, export enterprises should actively follow and regularly stay updated with customs clearance capacity at the border gates in Lang Son to be proactive in making plans for production, business and export activities to reduce risk and economic loss, especially for agricultural commodities and fresh fruits.

In May 2022, the clearance capacity at Huu Nghi, Tan Thanh and Chi Ma border gates reached 450 to 500 trucks per day, but the number of trucks passing border gates remained low, only 180-200 trucks/day. Specifically, there were only 60-70 trucks passing customs clearance per day at Huu Nghi international border gate. Meanwhile, only 100-140 trucks could get customs clearance at Tan Thanh border gate while every day, nearly 200 vehicles transporting agricultural products from provinces have come to this border gate for export.