Once generating nearly USD 1.3 billion annually, Vietnamese dragon fruit is now being procured at times for just VND 1,000–3,000 per kilo. As its largest buyer ramps up domestic production, the competitive edge of this fruit is undergoing profound shifts.

For more than a week, numerous dragon fruit growers across the Mekong Delta and Lam Dong (formerly Binh Thuan Province) have faced a bruising harvest as selling prices plummeted.

Dragon fruit prices hit rock bottom

Tran Dinh Trung, Director of Thuan Tien Dragon Fruit Cooperative in Ham Liem Commune, Lam Dong Province, reported that premium-grade dragon fruit is currently being purchased by traders for only VND 2,000–3,000/kg. Fruits with slight blemishes fetch a mere VND 1,000/kg. Notably, at times, sub-standard "cull" produce failing to meet trader specifications finds virtually no buyers.

In cultivation belts across former Long An and Tien Giang provinces, the outlook is equally bleak. Unsorted farm-gate prices—the rate traders pay to buy entire lots without grading—routinely hover around VND 3,000–6,000/kg.

When sorted, visually appealing fruit commands roughly VND 5,000–7,000/kg, while culls languish at about VND 1,000/kg. Certain grades have no commercial outlet whatsoever as processing facilities buying raw materials are overwhelmed by oversupply.

Amid ongoing expenditures on fertilizer, lighting electricity, crop protection chemicals, labor, and transportation, prices of just a few thousand dong per kilo make economic viability an uphill battle for many growers.

Speaking to Dan Tri, Nguyen Khac Huy, Director of Hoang Phat Fruit Co., Ltd. (Tay Ninh), noted that steep price declines during the natural in-season harvest are not a new phenomenon. This pattern has recurred in recent years as domestic supplies surge right when dragon fruit in China also enters its peak harvest.

“When a massive volume of fruit floods the market all at once, downward price pressure is practically unavoidable,” Huy said.

Top market no longer short on dragon fruit

For years, one of Vietnam’s greatest advantages in dragon fruit was large-scale production combined with artificial lighting techniques to induce off-season flowering.

This advantage once allowed Vietnam to supply dragon fruit virtually year-round, especially when supplies in China ran scarce. But the landscape is shifting.

According to Nguyen Khac Huy, dragon fruit is no longer a commodity where Vietnam holds an uncontested edge as it did over a decade ago. China and several other nations have substantially expanded their planting acreage.

In China, dragon fruit cultivation has expanded across Guangxi, Guangdong, Yunnan, Hainan, and other climatically suitable regions. Crucially, the Chinese harvest season stretches over multiple months, directly overlapping with the bulk of Vietnam’s in-season crop.

This means that during peak harvest months, Vietnamese dragon fruit not only must absorb heavy domestic volumes, but also compete head-to-head with produce grown directly inside its most vital import market.

Meanwhile, Thailand, Indonesia, India, and several Latin American nations are expanding dragon fruit cultivation as well. Consequently, the edge that once propelled Vietnam’s swift international expansion has eroded.

From USD 1.3 billion to under USD 500 million

Market shifts are reflected with growing clarity in export revenue. According to Customs figures, dragon fruit exports in the first six months of 2026 reached USD 288.7 million. In June alone, export turnover was estimated at USD 24.8 million, down 43.4% month-on-month and 3.6% year-on-year.

In 2025, dragon fruit exports totaled just under USD 500 million, touching a decade-plus low. This paints a stark contrast with the 2014–2018 period, when dragon fruit stood as the undisputed flagship of Vietnamese fruit exports.

In 2018, export turnover reached roughly USD 1.3 billion, making up a massive share of the country’s total fruit exports. During that heyday, Vietnamese dragon fruit was not only consumed in immense volumes across China, but also made consecutive inroads into demanding markets like the US, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.

In recent years, however, dragon fruit's crown has been eclipsed by other fruits, most prominently durian.

China remains the largest buyer of Vietnamese dragon fruit, absorbing over 62% of total export value in 2025. Yet as Chinese domestic output expands, the headroom for imported fruit is narrowing.

As a result, domestic price gyrations do not simply reflect a seasonal supply glut, but signal that the sector's primary consumer market is undergoing structural changes.

Dragon fruit at VND 25,000/kg still finds buyers

While the mass commodity market struggles, a contrasting picture emerges for consignments meeting the exacting standards of high-end markets.

At Thuan Tien Dragon Fruit Cooperative, fruit meeting export standards for Japan is purchased at over VND 20,000/kg—several times higher than the price of mass in-season produce. Hoang Phat Fruit is likewise buying fruit compliant with Japanese specifications at roughly VND 25,000/kg at the farm gate.

The spread between a few thousand dong and over VND 20,000 per kilo illustrates that dragon fruit’s value is increasingly dictated by quality, standards, and accessible market destinations.

However, destinations like Japan, South Korea, Australia, or the US currently lack the capacity to absorb volumes comparable to China. Hence, exporters note that market opening is only one piece of the puzzle.

Huy noted that Vietnam still retains an advantage during off-season windows, particularly toward year-end when weather conditions across Chinese growing regions turn less hospitable.

Rather than competing head-on when supplies surge simultaneously in both nations, restructuring crop calendars to release produce during supply gaps could help bolster price realization.

Concurrently, enterprises are exploring more direct consumer engagement via institutional kitchens, culinary chefs, and food influencers, rather than relying solely on conventional wholesale channels.

Cultivation technology is also gaining traction. Huy’s firm is investing in greenhouse systems to exercise tighter control over growing conditions, curb pests and diseases, and reduce pesticide use.

Even so, localized shifts within individual enterprises or cooperatives cannot instantly solve the broader challenge facing an industry producing over one million tons annually.

Looking back from today’s rock-bottom rates of a few thousand dong per kilo to its USD 1.3 billion export heyday, the core problem facing Vietnamese dragon fruit is no longer simply how to clear a seasonal harvest.

The larger question is why an industry that once held decisive advantages in scale, seasonality, and market access has steadily lost its footing—and what structural vulnerabilities accumulated during its peak era of growth.

Source: Bao dien tu Dan Tri