Compared to last year, the price of u rose lychee in the Central Highlands provinces increased by 30% to 90,000-110,000 VND per kg.
Records show that this week, many supermarkets, stores, and websites began selling early-ripened lychees at high prices from 89,000 to more than 110,000 VND per kilogram. This level increased by 30% compared to last year.
Ms. Phuong Linh, selling fruit on Thong Nhat Street (Go Vap), said she has been selling lychees for more than a week now, but the batch is sold out despite the high price. “Compared to last year, the amount of goods arriving is less, so each time there is only about 20-30kg of first-class goods,” Ms. Linh said.
According to Ms. Linh, U Hong litchi has the advantage of plump, pink-colored fruits. Type 1 fruits are about the size of a chicken egg. This lychee is mainly imported from Dak Lak province, the taste is sweet with a bit of sourness, not as sweet as the Northern products.
U Hong lychee is selected from a garden house in Dak Lak. Image: Khanh Duong
Selling thousands of products every week, Ms. Minh Anh, owner of a fruit store in District 1, said that this year’s quantity of U Hong lychees is limited due to people’s crop failure. In particular, grade 1 goods are even rarer because output decreased by 40-50% compared to last year. Therefore, prices at the beginning of this year’s crop increased sharply. “In the early days of April, I sold 130,000 VND per kilogram but now it has cooled down to 89,000 VND because of more output,” Ms. Anh said.
Staff at the MM Mega supermarket system in Thu Duc City said lychees will soon be sold in the specialty booth of Dak Lak province. Lychees are selected from gardeners growing according to VietGAP standards. From the beginning of the season until now, lychees have been one of the best-selling products in the system.
MM Mega Market representative said there is a promotion of 109,000 VND to 89,000 VND per kg. The supermarket estimates that at the end of the season, it will be able to sell several dozen tons of goods to farmers throughout the system.
U Hong lychee garden is in harvest season at Dak Lak garden house. Image: Khanh Duong
According to sales establishments, the reason why u Hong lychee prices increased this year is that output decreased over the same period while demand increased.
Gardener Khanh Duong in Dak Lak said his family has 20 lychee trees, but half only have a few scattered fruits, the remaining trees are about 1 quintal each, down 40% compared to last year. “This year, care costs increased, while output decreased, so gardeners only had enough care costs,” Khanh Duong said.
Having lost 60% of output compared to last year, gardener Lam Anh also said that this year he only broke even. Currently, the price of rose lychee at the garden is 40,000-50,000 VND per kg.
According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Dak Lak, this year the yield of lychee ripened earlier was reduced due to the influence of weather. To support growers, the department has also connected modern retail systems with farmers to have stable output.
According to statistics, the whole province currently has about 2,570 hectares of lychee growing, of which the area for products is 1,358 hectares, with an output of about 10,000 tons. Currently, the whole province has 9 lychee growing areas that have been granted codes for export to China.