Vietnamese Coconut Prices Surge on Strong China Demand

According to Vietnamese media reports, strong demand from the Chinese market has caused the price of Vietnamese coconuts to surge. A single coconut reportedly now costs 15,000–20,000 Vietnamese dong ($0.59–0.78), double that during the same period of last year.

The owner of a fruit shop in Ho Chi Minh City reported that prolonged high temperatures and limited production have led to a 30% drop in the coconut supply compared with last year. Certain specialty coconut varieties are priced as high as 20,000 dong ($0.78) each but remain in short supply.

Meanwhile, Cao Ba Dang Khoa, secretary general of the Vietnam Coconut Association, said that the price of fresh coconuts this year has increased by 110% compared with the same period of last year.

In Ben Tre and Tien Giang provinces, fresh coconut prices have been climbing daily. A coconut grower in Ben Tre revealed that current farm gate prices range from 100,000 dong ($3.90) to 130,000 dong ($5.07) per dozen, again nearly double last year’s levels. However, prolonged drought and salinization have significantly reduced yields. Previously, the grower’s orchard could harvest 500 coconuts at a time, but now it produces only about 300.

Besides the hot weather, the leap in coconut prices has been greatly driven by increased demand from China. Nguyen Dinh Tung, general manager of Vina T&T Group, a company specializing in fruit and vegetable imports and exports, explained that since Vietnamese coconuts gained official market access to China last year, demand from Chinese buyers has soared. His company now exports approximately 30 containers of coconuts to China each month.

Importers from China, Thailand and Malaysia are reportedly competing intensely for Vietnamese coconuts. In response, Ben Tre is actively expanding its coconut cultivation area. The province currently has approximately 80,000 hectares of coconut plantations, accounting for about 42% of Vietnam’s total coconut planting area and 88% of the Mekong Delta’s. Additionally, the province already has 133 coconut planting regions and 14 packaging facilities that have obtained export codes for the Chinese market.

Image: Pixabay

This article was translated from Chinese. Read the original article.