Prices of Vietnamese fruits are usually unstable and costlier than that of other countries in the world, taking lead in the ASEAN region, warned head of the Southern Fruit Research Institute, Nguyen Minh Chau.
Chau stressed that high price but not very high quality is the biggest obstacle on the Vietnamese fruit sector’s development in WTO era.
He took durian price as an example, saying that when a kilo of Ri-6 durian fruit is sold for VND25,000 in Vietnam, a kilo of Mongthong durian is offered at only VND7,000 in Thailand and VND10,000 in Vietnam.
Agricultural experts said that high production cost due to small scale cultivating and high transportation fee are the major reasons for the fruit price hike, stressing that it is necessary to set up fruit co-operatives which will be responsible for quality and quantity of fruit.
“In Thailand, each household grows averaged three hectares of orchard while such an area is often owned by 10 households in Vietnam,” Vo Mai, president of Vietnam Fruit Association said, noting that enterprises can not go to every household to collect fruit.
“The price rocket is fueled by expensive anti-bacterium facilities and a 20-30 per cent of past-harvest loss,” a participant in the added said.
Most of the participant at recent Fruit Development Conference in HCM City agreed that unless Vietnam reduces its fruit prices, it will loose domestic market.
In fact, Thais imported fruits have flooded the Vietnamese market since the beginning of this summer. They are even consumed better than domestic ones due to good taste and appearance.
To deal with such challenges, experts said that it is necessary to set up concentrated-fruit area and specialty fruit area, in which most of the products acquire Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) standards.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has decided to halt building more fruit processing factory to focus on developing orchards.
Accordingly, Vietnam will focus on developing orchards southeastern region, Mekong River Delta and Red River Delta, while lowering the growing area in the Central Highlands and central coastal region.
The country will develop one million hectares of fruits from now to 2010, producing 10 million tons a year. (Youth)
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