Vietnam Dragon Fruit Prices Plunge Ahead of Mid-Autumn Festival(Sep 23)

Vietnam Dragon Fruit Prices Plunge Ahead of Mid-Autumn Festival

Just before the Mid-Autumn Festival, dragon fruit prices in Binh Thuan Province, Vietnam's main dragon fruit production area, plummeted. The wholesale price for export-grade dragon fruit was only 2,000-7,000 Vietnamese dong per kilogram, equivalent to approximately 0.51-1.80 RMB per kilogram.

One grower reported that his 300 trees yielded 3 tons of light-supplemented dragon fruit. Traders selected 1.5 tons meeting Chinese export quality standards and purchased them at 5,000 dong per kilogram. The remaining 1.5 tons could only be sold for 500 dong per kilogram (0.13 RMB per kilogram). Another farmer stated that first-grade fruit from his orchard could only fetch 7,000 dong per kilogram, whereas the same quality sold for 20,000 dong per kilogram last year, and this was already the highest price achievable at present.

In previous years, during China's Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day, dragon fruit prices were high, with purchase prices ranging from 17,000 to 20,000 dong per kilogram. However, this year prices unexpectedly crashed. In fact, many local orchards produced dragon fruit of substandard quality, and traders refused to accept them.

Light-supplemented dragon fruit needs to sell at 10,000 dong per kilogram for growers to break even. Current prices have caused severe losses for farmers. Many local dragon fruit growers have already switched to rice cultivation in recent years, and more are now considering abandoning dragon fruit.

Vietnam's dragon fruit purchase price depends heavily on the export market, especially the Chinese market. In September, Vietnamese dragon fruit enters peak harvest season, coinciding with the peak harvest period in Chinese orchards, resulting in market oversupply and a sharp price decline.

Approximately 80-85% of Vietnam's dragon fruit production is exported overseas, with only 15-20% for domestic consumption. Vietnam Customs data shows that dragon fruit export revenue once surged to approximately USD 1.3 billion in 2018, but subsequently stagnated as market and competitive dynamics shifted. In the first seven months of this year, Vietnam's dragon fruit export revenue was approximately USD 311 million, down 2.5% year-on-year.

Lam Dong Province has the largest dragon fruit cultivation area in Vietnam, exceeding 26,000 hectares, primarily concentrated in the former Binh Thuan Province area, with annual output exceeding 500,000 tons. Currently, Lam Dong Province exports dragon fruit to more than 20 countries, but the main market remains China. Some GlobalGAP-certified cultivation zones can sell dragon fruit at around 20,000 dong per kilogram, but the area of certified cultivation zones remains very limited.