Fresh coconuts, grapefruit, lemons… are agricultural products that are extremely popular during the hot summer season, while businesses do not have enough goods to supply.
Fruit prices increase “dizzily”
Mr. Nguyen Dinh Tung, General Director of Vina T&T, shared that with the prolonged hot weather, the price of fresh coconuts has increased four times as much as before.
“We buy them at the garden in Ben Tre, currently priced at 130,000 VND/dozen, while in the past many times it was only 30,000 – 40,000 VND/dozen. Coconut price increases are “hotter” than gold prices. In the morning, the price was fixed, but in the afternoon it increased by 20% – 30%,” Mr. Tung cited.
As the “tycoon” of fresh fruit exports, Mr. Tung said that besides the sharp increase in fresh coconut prices without enough supply, another fruit, grapefruit, is also “exhausted” due to the impact of saltwater intrusion while consumer demand is limited. increased use.
General Director of Vina T&T said that although Ben Tre grapefruit currently has a high purchasing price at the garden from 35,000 – 45,000 VND/kg, the supply is not enough to meet demand. It is forecasted that the price of this fruit will increase when China, the US, and New Zealand increase their import demand in the near future.
Retailers also said that the hot weather is causing soft drinks and energy drinks… For example, the purchasing power of this item at Saigon Co.op’s retail system increased by 30% compared to before the time. prolonged hot weather. Private label products such as nipa honey, lotus heart tea, pennywort… also increased by up to 50%.
Export enterprises suffer losses
As Vice President of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association, Mr. Tung further shared that although the world economic situation has many negative fluctuations, because fruits and vegetables are a “special industry”, Vietnam’s fruit and vegetable exports have lasted for 4 months. At the beginning of the year, there was still good growth. The evidence is that the export turnover by the end of April of Vietnam’s fruit and vegetable exports is estimated at 520 million USD, bringing the total export value of vegetables and fruits in the first 4 months of our country to 1.8 billion USD (an increase of more than 32%). compared to the same period). Among them, the US, China, EU… are still the main import markets.
As the coconut capital of the country, Ben Tre province’s supply of fresh coconuts is currently decreasing sharply due to many areas affected by saltwater intrusion and prolonged hot weather.
Not only coconut but under the harsh impact of weather, many other agricultural products such as grapefruit, dragon fruit, longan… are also not enough to supply the market.
Mr. Nguyen Quoc Trinh, Chairman of the Dragon Fruit Association of Long An province, said that due to the hot weather, dragon fruit output has decreased significantly, leading to a scarce supply.
Mr. Trinh analyzed that businesses that have signed contracts with customers in advance will face many difficulties. For example, a business signs a contract to supply one ton of dragon fruit per week, but due to lack of supply, it is forced to compete to buy and increase purchasing prices to have enough goods to deliver to partners.
“Businesses will accept the story that the prices of these products will increase while the quality will decrease. Because when demand increases but supply is not enough, during hot weather, the quality of agricultural products is not guaranteed, forcing us to accept some products of lower quality. Before, I only bought 1kg or more grapefruit, but now I buy even 0.6kg grapefruit but there is no stock,” Mr. Tung said.
However, according to Mr. Tung, in order to have a source of goods, businesses and traders compete to buy and even make agreements to commit to purchasing output even during off-peak periods in the hope of having goods to supply to the market. school during this peak season.