The 2023 durian crop in Dak Lak province has a good harvest, good prices, and farmers are excited. Besides the joy of the majority of farmers, the competition between buying and selling and inflating durian prices has led to consequences such as business losses, increased civil disputes, and sometimes market chaos in durian prices. Particularly, the connection is not valued and is broken…
Losing businesses buy durian at a loss
The 2023 durian crop is successful for the majority of farmers in Dak Lak province but is a loss-making crop for many businesses, durian purchasing establishments, and traders. The reason is that at the beginning of the durian harvest, even about 1-2 months before the harvest, many gardens were sold at high prices, up to 90,000 VND/kg to buy a bucket at the garden. By the time of the main harvest, durian prices decrease, the market situation fluctuates, causing businesses, purchasing establishments, and traders to make even more losses.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Thuy’s family from Cho Lach district, Ben Tre province has been going to Krong Pac district, Dak Lak province to buy durian for 8 years now. As an experienced person, the durian market developments in Dak Lak this year are unpredictable, beyond Ms. Thuy’s prediction. In addition, the durian trading situation is based on price prediction, winning and losing bets based on durian price, so Ms. Thuy’s family buys and sells moderately, only about 70% of durian output compared to previous years.
“For the past 8 years, this is the first time durian prices have dropped during the Mid-Autumn Festival, beyond many people’s expectations. In addition, before the season, many business households and businesses rent premises and open early purchasing warehouses, purchasing goods from many places to meet pre-sale contracts, with the quality of durian not being satisfactory, with a lasting impact. until the main harvest of Dak Lak. My family feels that the crop results are not good, so we only buy according to our ability, buy at the right time of harvest, pay the garden properly, do not anchor the garden, the loss is at a tolerable level” – Ms. Thuy shared.
At Thanh Trung Import-Export Company Limited, currently, every day, the unit exports about 7 products, 18 tons of durian/product. At the beginning of the season, the unit signed a contract to buy and sell people at a high price. Now the price has decreased. Except for costs, the business currently has a loss of about 10,000 VND/kg of durian.
According to Ms. Doan Thi Nang, company representative in Krong Pac district, Dak Lak province, at the beginning of the season, many traders came to the garden to set prices and devalue durians. If businesses did not buy at high prices, they would have no source of goods. . Therefore, the unit hopes that local authorities and functional agencies will strictly manage traders, durian “dealers”, and foreigners entering the area, and have control solutions to stabilize durian prices and stabilize the market. school; At the same time, we hope that farmers will share difficulties with businesses.
Mr. Le Anh Trung, Director of External Affairs of Van Hoa Holding Group, said that for this year’s durian crop in Dak Lak province, the unit has committed to supply about 20,000 tons of durian to Chinese partners and customers. . However, the unit encountered many difficulties in purchasing and consuming durian. The unit has developed a policy to link with farms and about 30 cooperatives throughout the country, supporting training, establishing planting area code records, applying electronic logs for traceability, Production capital support is 50 million VND/hectare, but at harvest time, more than 90% of farmers and cooperatives sell durian to other units. In addition, the price of durian has increased too high, causing some partners and customers to want to cut orders.
According to businesses, buying durian in buckets at the garden in Dak Lak at the beginning of the harvest season is about 80,000 VND/kg, sold in the Chinese market is about 650 yuan/18kg box, equivalent to 120,000 VND/kg. Except for cutting labor, transportation costs, wastage rate, processing costs, packaging, etc., the more a business works, the more it loses.
In Dak Lak province, there are currently about 500 durian packaging and purchasing establishments, mainly small and micro enterprises. Many businesses and purchasing establishments operate in a do-it-yourself model and do not participate in industry associations. Besides, the durian industry has become a billion-dollar industry, bringing a lot of potential for high profits, thus attracting many “rookies” to enter the profession and pay quite high prices in this year’s crop.
[ Khi sầu riêng “sốt giá” ]Disputes increase
High durian prices and businesses are losing money, leading to an increase in people’s debts, debts to traders, and civil disputes in some localities. Some businesses and purchasing facilities closed silently, causing traders to dispute goods in warehouses. Besides, the situation of abandoning stakes and anchors in durian gardens, etc. has made this year’s durian crop in Dak Lak province less happy.
Mr. Huynh Van Cong (Ea Khanh commune, Ea H’leo district, Dak Lak province) bought durian from people and resold it to the purchasing facility of a business in km74, Ea Nam commune, Ea H’leo district. But during the buying and selling process, Mr. Cong and some traders owed money to the business for many days, showing signs of debt evasion. Mr. Cong and a number of traders have repeatedly gone to the business headquarters to request payment; Reported the incident to the Commune People’s Committee and Ea H’leo District Police and continued to sue higher-level authorities.
Mr. HVH’s family (Ea Kenh commune, Krong Pac district) and a number of surrounding households were owed money for durian by another business after the first purchase. When it came to the second round of cutting, even though the durian had already been cut and had fallen in the garden a lot (500 kg/day), Mr. H.’s family was determined to collect a new debt for the business to transport the durian.
Durian prices decreased, many traders and businesses negotiated, asking gardeners to reduce prices compared to the price signed in the contract. Negotiating a price reduction or closing the purchase price, if unsuccessful, will lead to a situation where many durian gardens reach harvest time but have no buyers. Along with that, the durian crop in Dak Lak has a rainy season, which partly affects the harvest.
Mr. NHL’s family, Tan Lap commune, Krong Buk district, has 200 durian trees that are being harvested, with an output of about 20 tons. The increase in durian prices at the beginning of the season made Mr. L.’s family very excited. However, due to not being able to agree with traders and businesses on selling specifications (selling in buckets or selling according to A/B/C specifications) and price, in the last days of September 2023, his family still did not Sell durian garden.
Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chairman of the Durian Association of Dak Lak province Vu Duc Con said that to date, about 70% of the province’s durian output has been harvested, with high prices and output. best ever. The price of durian is high because durian in Dak Lak province is the latest region to collect in the country, a situation of “buying and selling” to keep the raw material area, pushing up the price. The price of durian has now decreased, but the consequences still occur. Buyers have the mentality of waiting for the price so they do not want to cut the entire garden quickly; Some cases of removing stakes previously signed with farmers.
Mr. Vu Duc Con emphasized that the Durian Association of Dak Lak province is collecting opinions from Association members, propagandizing, advocating, and advising people and businesses to calmly sit together, share information, and share information. Share profits to consume about 30% of output at the end of the season. At the same time, the Association will organize a summary and evaluation at the end of the durian season to have appropriate lessons and solutions for the 2024 durian crop.
Although from the beginning of the season, professional agencies, local authorities, and the Durian Association of Dak Lak province warned of the consequences of setting prices early and competing to buy and sell durians, this situation still occurs. The durian harvest season of Dak Lak province is about to end, and it is also time for actors involved in the durian industry chain to reconsider their responsibility, trust, credibility as well as the need to “go with them”. each other” to build a sustainable industry.
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Article and photos: Hoai Thu (VNA)
