Source: Tintucnongnghiep.com
Dragon fruit is already a fruit that brings in real “billion dollars” revenue, accounting for the highest proportion in the fruit and vegetable industry.
Data from the General Department of Customs, through the 11 months of 2020, although the export of dragon fruits decreased by 10.2% compared to the same period in 2019, the export value of this fruit has exceeded USD 1 billion (reaching 1.08 billion USD). Clearly, in the total export value of agricultural – forestry – fishery products of Vietnam this year is 41.2 billion USD, the contribution of 1 billion USD of dragon fruit is not small.
However, the story of dragon fruit known to Vietnamese consumers is not the “billion dollar” achievement or the farmer’s prosperity, but the “rescue”. Almost every year there are waves of dragon fruits at the market with the cheapest prices. Consumers right in Ho Chi Minh City can buy this fruit for only 15,000 VND / 2 kg or 20,000 VND / 3 kg.
No need for analysis or in-depth investigation, all interested people can easily see the cause of “rescue” dragon fruit right in the market structure of this fruit: although dragon fruit has been opened to most markets such as the US, the European Union (EU), Japan, Australia, South Korea … but the Chinese market still accounts for 92.3% of the total export value, as of the first 10 months of 2020. So As long as there was a problem in the Chinese market, in Vietnam, dragon fruits would immediately falter. Moreover, despite the large export value, in Vietnam, dragon fruit is not an attractive fruit due to its lack of sweet taste according to the majority of consumers.
Dragon fruit is naturally convenient with high prices but is favored by consumers in HCMC. Photo: Ngoc Anh
China especially likes dragon fruits because of its beautiful red color like a “dragon” which is suitable for making, worshiping and very nutritious when eaten. Previously, the supply of dragon fruit in Vietnam was limited, this fruit used to cost 50,000 – 60,000 VND / kg, bringing great economic benefits to growers. Compared to rice, this is a “super profitable” crop. Therefore, people massively increase acreage, increase output and the inevitable consequence is lower prices.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the current dragon fruit area is about 57,000 hectares, with an output of more than 500,000 tons, 20 times more (in terms of area and output) compared to 10 years ago (2010). Even in China, the dragon fruit area has reached 35,555 hectares, an increase of 10 times in just a few years, showing that the competition for output is getting fiercer. Dragon fruit in Vietnam not only has to watch the weather, good season and bad season, but also have to avoid the Chinese harvest to sell goods.
Now, the golden age of Vietnamese dragon fruit has passed, the dragon fruit industry cannot develop spontaneously as before, but must have a methodical strategy, commensurate with a real “billion-dollar” industry. The time has come for the dragon fruit industry to invest deeply in quality and processing instead of rapidly developing output as before.
Forecasts around the world show that the demand for dragon fruits is still increasing by about 4% / year because consumers prefer healthy fruits. However, the competition is increasingly fierce, not only for export but also in the country, consumers also require high quality and safety of food. In recent years, there have been models of growing dragon fruits according to good agricultural production standards (VietGAP, GlobalGAP) or organic dragon fruits. These models have begun to work because they are not only safe, but have better quality and higher prices.
