The price of red-fleshed jackfruit set a record, worth millions of dongs per fruit

In these days, the price of red-fleshed jackfruit is maintaining record highs. At the garden, first-class jackfruit (size of 8 kg/fruit or more) costs VND 95,000–100,000/kg; second-class jackfruit (size of 6–8 kg/fruit) costs VND 80,000–85,000/kg; and market jackfruit (size of 4 kg/fruit) costs VND 33,000–35,000/kg. At the warehouse, first-class jackfruit is priced from VND 102,000 to VND 105,000/kg.

Traders said that the reason for the high price of jackfruit is that at this time, gardeners have only just begun processing for flowering, so ripe jackfruit output is scarce. Only when it is close to the Lunar New Year and until January of the lunar calendar will the output be high.

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Thong (Tan Lap commune, Tan Phuoc district, Tien Giang province) grows 2 hectares of Thanh Thanh red-fleshed jackfruit. He said that this type of jackfruit has the same price as Indonesian red-flesh jackfruit with plump leaves and yellow fibers. At this time, his jackfruit garden only has a few fruits left in insignificant quantity. In about a week, he will start processing the jackfruit to flower simultaneously and then select the fruit.

According to Mr. Thong, this is the second time this year the price of red-fleshed jackfruit has remained at a high level. Earlier this year, he sold more than 200kg of jackfruit at the highest price of VND 105,000/kg. The cheapest time was when Mekong Delta fruits were in season (jackfruit price was only VND 20,000/kg). This year, the average price of jackfruit ranges from VND 50,000 to VND 60,000/kg.

According to Mr. Nguyen Minh Tan, owner of the Minh Tan jackfruit warehouse in Cai Lay town (Tien Giang province), Vietnamese red-fleshed jackfruit is extremely favored in the Chinese market. The high price of jackfruit is because Chinese traders sell it in supermarkets, food store chains, and retail chains. If Chinese traders sell at traditional markets, the purchasing price is not high. Therefore, to sell jackfruit at a high price to Chinese traders, it is required to have a really high jackfruit quality, along with a packaging unit and a growing area code.

Mr. Tan added that previously, Thai jackfruit had a high price, and people competed to plant it. However, there was a time when the price dropped dramatically, so people cut it down. Then the price increased again, and they continued to buy seedlings to plant.

"Currently, when people see a valuable tree, they plant it very spontaneously, so they face many disadvantages. Firstly, growing new crops with almost no production experience will make the fruit quality uneven, with both good and bad fruits. Bad fruits will drag the price of good fruits down.

Secondly, growing sporadically will make it difficult to build a growing area code. Thereby, it is impossible to export, and when the harvest season comes, the price will drop quickly. Meanwhile, the fruit can no longer be exported to the Chinese market via an unofficial quota and must be exported via an official quota. The packaging unit is very important to the Chinese market. If there are any quarantine errors, the packaging unit will be warned and banned. Further, our fruit cannot compete with that of other countries," said Mr. Tan. According to him, it is necessary to learn lessons in growing red-fleshed jackfruit from the story of the Thai jackfruit tree.

Red-fleshed jackfruit originates from Thailand. It has a fancy color, a sweet taste, and is slightly chewy. In addition to eating directly, red-fleshed jackfruit can be dried to make jam and processed into attractive teas and drinks. With eye-catching colors and looking very attractive, red-fleshed jackfruit is extremely favored by traders, especially Chinese traders.

Currently, red-fleshed jackfruit, as well as Thai jackfruit and jackfruit in general, are allowed to be officially exported to the Chinese market, which is Vietnam's largest agricultural product consumption market. In order to grow fruit for export to this market, farmers need to link together, build a large raw material area, produce according to a uniform quality and process, ensure traceability, issue a growing area code, and avoid spontaneous, massive, and unsustainable development.