Prolonged rain reducing fruit quality along with exporting enterprises tightening purchasing pulls durian prices continue down low across many growing zones.

Owning 100 6-year-old durian trees in Dong Nai, Mr. Manh stated that this year the orchard reached around 5 tons of fruit, up 20% compared to last year. However, the entirety of Monthong durians was only sold for 55,000 VND per kg, down 21% compared to the same period and serving as the lowest level from before until now.

"This price still possesses profit but not much because fertilizer and labor costs all increased," he said.

Not only prices decreasing, many orchards are also anxious because fruit quality this year is not equal to every year. Ms. Hanh, owner of more than one hectare of durians in Dak Lak, stated that although it is not yet the harvest day, she still decided to receive deposits from traders due to worrying that prolonged rain would affect quality.

"Monthong rarely drops below 60,000 VND per kg in the middle of the crop season. This year the price is low never seen before. I am only worried that if the fruit does not satisfy requirements, traders will cancel deposits," she said.

Not only growers bearing pressure, traders also reduce purchasing volumes.

Mr. Hoang, specialized in purchasing durians in Mekong Delta and Southeast provinces, stated that each day he only gathers a few tons, equal to around one-third of last year due to exporting enterprises tightening quality standards.

"If buying the wrong batch of goods not achieving standards or being detected with Cadmium residue, it is a heavy loss. Therefore, this year we only dare to buy moderate quantities, the remaining part is consumed domestically," he said.

According to Mr. Hoang, the harvest crop season in the Mekong Delta is near ending, and the supply source shifts progressively to the Southeast region. However, this region also bears prolonged heavy rain so quality is not yet stable. Meanwhile, Dak Lak—the zone evaluated to possess the most stable durian quality for many past years—has still not entered the main crop season.

Market surveys demonstrate that, alongside price decreases, exporting enterprises also tighten purchasing standards. Many warehouses only receive fruits achieving uniform quality and refuse batches possessing signs of being mushy, young, thick-skinned, or not satisfying appearance requirements.

Monthong at warehouses currently is purchased at 46,000-68,000 VND per kg, while Ri6 sits at the level of 28,000-38,000 VND, dropping around 20-30% compared to the same period last year.

According to many orchards and traders, this is a rare time Monthong prices drop deeply right in the middle of the crop season. This development reflects exporting purchasing power slowing down when fruit quality decreases under the impacts of weather.

According to Mr. Vo Tan Loi, Chairman of the Dong Thap Durian Association, the primary cause making prices decrease is not due to supply sources increasing but due to fruit quality declining.

He stated that prolonged rain makes many growing zones appear with situations of durians being mushy, in some places the rate climbs up to 30-40%, reducing the volume of goods achieving export standards. Ri6 is easily water-mushy, while Monthong also appears with many dry-mushy fruits, making the selection of grade A goods (2.7 locules, 1.5-5kg) increasingly strict.

"Quality is not guaranteed so the Chinese side proactively lowers purchasing prices. Domestic traders also do not dare to buy strongly because of the risk that export goods fail to satisfy requirements," Mr. Loi said.

Apart from the quality factor, Thai durian prices decreasing also pulls the general price plateau of Vietnam downward.

According to Mr. Loi, this year the durian industry falls into a paradox when output volume increases but quality decreases. Many tree areas entering the business phase, and young trees beginning to yield harvest help output volume sit higher than the previous year. However, adverse weather makes the rate of fruits achieving export standards decrease, forcing importers to tighten purchasing and lower prices.

Increasingly high requirements on quality are also the message the Chinese side has multiple times emphasized in recent times.

At the Vietnam - China Trade Forum taking place recently in Ho Chi Minh City, Mr. Ha Vi, representative of the Chinese Embassy in Vietnam, stated that consumers in this country increasingly care about quality, food safety, and traceability capacities. According to him, checking quality and quarantine is a normal requirement in international trade. If enterprises control quality well from growing zones and satisfy full import standards, the sampling frequency at border gates can be reduced, helping to shorten customs clearance times.

"The current trend is not only increasing output volume but also must elevate quality to satisfy the increasingly high requirements of the market," he said.

Source: VnExpress