Not only farmers but also Vietnamese tycoons such as Bau Duc, billionaire Tran Ba Duong… are also racing to grow durian when this crop is generating profits of 1.2-3 billion VND/ha. This is a product that brings “super huge” profits in the agricultural industry today.
Race to plant “billion dollar tree”
Completely dependent on the Chinese market, but after only one year of official export, Vietnamese durian has become Vietnam’s new “billion dollar tree” when the turnover in 2023 reaches about 2.3 billion USD.
The price of durian accordingly skyrocketed, becoming a super expensive product. Currently, the price of durian purchased at the garden ranges from 125,000-200,000 VND/kg. Thanks to that, durian farmers last year were able to earn a profit of 1.2-3 billion VND/ha depending on time and productivity. This is a huge profit level, difficult for any product in the agricultural industry in our country to achieve today.
Therefore, farmers in many provinces and cities are racing to expand the planting area of this “billion dollar tree”. According to the Department of Crop Production (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), the total durian area in 2023 in our country is estimated to reach 131,000 hectares, an increase of 20% compared to 2022.
When talking about the profits of durian trees, Mr. Doan Nguyen Duc (elected Duc) – Chairman of the Board of Directors of HAGL (HAG) – admitted that this is a crop with “a capital of 5 profits”. This also surprised him.
Bau Duc said that his company has planted 1,200 hectares of durian, of which 700 hectares were harvested last October-November. His business recently sold about 440 tons of durian at a price of nearly 100,000 VND/kg, earning several tens of billions of VND.
“My durian buyers are all big customers in China,” Mr. Duc shared. This year, he estimates the harvest will reach several thousand tons. Harvested durian will be sold directly to Chinese importers without going through intermediaries.
HAGL is planting more durians with the goal of reaching a total area of 2,000 hectares by 2026.
According to the content approved at the Extraordinary Congress, HAGL Agrico (HNG) of billionaire Tran Ba Duong also decided to “do big business” in Laos when calculating to invest 18,000 billion VND to grow bananas, durian, and raise cows. …, expected profit of 2,450 billion VND/year.
The project investment completion time is from 2024 to 2028. As for durian trees, HNG estimates that the export output after completion is up to 9,500 tons/year.
Although it is a large rubber enterprise, since 2018, Dak Lak Rubber Investment Joint Stock Company (DRI) has begun shifting to invest in other crops, including durian.
Notably, DRI’s newly released consolidated financial report for the fourth quarter of 2023 showed a revenue of 148 billion VND – a slight increase over the same period, including revenue from durian. This is the first quarter that DRI recorded revenue from durian – an agricultural product that attracted attention last year when the price reached a historic peak and remained at a high level, bringing in 2.3 billion USD for the Vietnamese agricultural industry.
According to DRI’s records, with a cost price of only 365.4 million VND, DRI’s durian segment is giving a performance level of up to “1 capital, 6 profits”.
Durian sells for 30,000 VND/kg and still makes a profit
Sharing about the durian market, Mr. Doan Nguyen Duc acknowledged that in the next 10 years, durian will still not be enough to meet consumer demand. This is also the reason why HAGL plans to expand its durian area in the coming years.
According to Mr. Duc, durian is a perennial tree, it takes 6-7 years to bear fruit after planting. In particular, durian is a difficult tree to grow, not every region can grow it to produce good quality fruit. He cited as evidence that China had tried planting it but was not successful.
“Currently, China is still the country that ‘eats’ the strongest durian, other countries are just starting to learn about it. Therefore, I firmly believe that the market is getting bigger and bigger, even if planted throughout Vietnam, it would not be enough to sell,” he emphasized.
Mr. Duc also pointed out that durian is not only eaten fresh but can also be processed into countless other products such as: durian sweet soup, durian ice cream, durian cake, durian mooncake. In China, people even make durian hot pot. Therefore, durian will become a relatively unique source of raw materials for the food processing industry. That’s why durian always has a high price.
With the current output (20-30 tons/ha – PV), Mr. Duc calculates that durian prices only need 30,000 VND/kg for growers to make a profit.
Mr. Dang Phuc Nguyen – General Secretary of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association – said that in the next 10-20 years, Vietnamese durian will still be “alive and strong”. Because, with 1.4 billion people, China is still the world’s largest durian consumer market.
Statistics from the Chinese Customs agency show that in 2023, this country will spend 6.7 billion USD to import 1.4 million tons of durian, an increase of 72.9% in volume and 65.6% in value. compared to 2022.
Notably, in 2023, China spent 2.1 billion USD to buy 493 thousand tons of Vietnamese durian, an increase of 1,036% in value and an increase of 1,107% in volume compared to 2022. Accordingly, the market share Vietnamese durian in China’s total imports from 5% in 2022 will increase sharply to 34.6% in 2023.
Previous forecasts show that China is still the world’s largest durian consuming market, with capacity expected to reach 20 billion USD by 2025.
Currently, there are 4 countries allowed to officially export durian to China. However, according to Mr. Nguyen, Vietnam has many advantages because of the short transportation distance. In particular, Vietnamese durian is harvested almost all year round, while rival countries only have it seasonally.
In addition to fresh whole fruits, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is also completing procedures to sign a protocol to export frozen durian to the Chinese market. This means that businesses can take full advantage of preservation and solve seasonal problems to boost exports to this market and keep durian prices more stable.
“If the frozen durian export protocol is signed, a container of frozen durian will have a value many times higher than a whole fresh product,” emphasized the leader of the Plant Protection Department (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development). strong.
> With about 1,000 hectares of durian about to be harvested, what does Mr. Duc say about the concern of flooding the market?
According to Vietnamnet.vn (https://vietnamnet.vn/sau-rieng-1-von-5-loi-dai-gia-viet-dua-nhau-trong-du-thu-lai-hang-nghin-ty-2252745.html)
