Contrary to rumors of an export "fever," export banana prices across many Mekong Delta orchards are in free fall, succumbing to a bitter market glut that has forced numerous growers to tear down their plantations.

Banana prices sink, export channels bottlenecked

Recently, rumors circulated that export bananas were fetching premium prices, ranking just behind durian in potential within the Chinese market. However, reality across many cultivation areas in the Mekong Delta paints an entirely opposite picture.

Nguyen Hoang Anh, an export banana grower in An Giang, shared that farm-gate selling prices have plummeted to "dirt-cheap" levels of VND 2,000–3,000 per kilo, and even down to VND 1,000/kg in some pockets, while still struggling to find buyers.

Discussing the situation, Vo Quan Huy (Ut Huy), an export banana grower in Tay Ninh, confirmed that banana prices currently languish at very low marks. The core driver is that the Chinese market is currently in the midst of its own domestic banana harvest. The narrowing of official export quotas into China has left Vietnamese bananas oversupplied and facing blocked market outlets.

Huy also pointed out an information disconnect across the media and social networks: entities hyping that "bananas are lucrative, prices are high" are essentially seedling vendors, whereas commercial fruit growers face erratic price swings and profoundly precarious offtake.

Bitterly chopping down hundreds of cong of banana trees

Confronting rock-bottom prices alongside unsustainable fertilizer and labor expenses, many large-scale orchard owners have reached an impasse. Off-take companies have halted procurement, leaving bananas to rot on the trees. To salvage what little they can, growers have been forced to fire-sale hands of bananas to small-scale traders hauling produce across secondary border crossings into Cambodia.

Directly bearing the brunt of the losses, Hoang Anh bitterly shared: "Right now people won't even buy, let alone negotiate price. Bananas sold to traders destined for Cambodia recently fetch only VND 2,000–3,000/kg. The proceeds can't even cover labor wages."

He added that the enterprise previously committed to off-take agreements has now stopped collecting fruit. Unable to absorb ongoing losses, Hoang Anh decided to clear his entire remaining acreage: "I am preparing to chop down about 200 cong of bananas (over 20 hectares) to mound the soil and pivot to durian, hoping to find a new opportunity."

Source: Bao dien tu Dan Viet