Lychee prices in Bac Ninh are skyrocketing by the day. However, an increased prevalence of stem-end borers compared to previous years is confronting export enterprises with strict quarantine risks and a severe threat of supply shortages.

Continuously "breaking the ceiling"

According to reports from orchards, lychee prices offered at procurement hubs for export to China in Nam Duong Commune, Bac Ninh Province, have continuously "broken the ceiling" over recent days. Every time a farmer transports lychees out onto the roads, two to three traders immediately shadow them to inspect the cargo and negotiate prices.

Arriving at a weighing hub on the morning of May 31, Mr. Hoang Van Phuong from Ben Huyen Village easily sold his truckload at a price of 60,000 VND/kg, marking a surge of nearly 10,000 VND/kg compared to just two days prior.

Previously on May 29, the price for the U Hong variety stood at just over 50,000 VND/kg, while the Thanh Ha variety hovered between 55,000 and 60,000 VND/kg. Yet by May 31, top-grade Thanh Ha lychees established a new peak as Chinese traders offered up to 70,000 VND/kg.

“Thanh Ha lychees feature thick skin, making them easy to transport over long distances, which Chinese traders highly prefer. When they spot a premium truckload, they offer exceptional prices, determined to secure it at all costs. For the main-season Thieu lychee, prices this year are projected to match the historic 2024 crop season, potentially soaring past 100,000 VND/kg straight at the orchard,” Mr. Phuong shared.

Mr. Phuong added that his family's orchard luckily retained about 70% of its yield compared to 2025. Once the remaining stocks are cleared, total revenues are expected to hit around 200–300 million VND.

Meanwhile, in Phuc Hoa Commune—the earliest-ripening core lychee hub in Bac Ninh Province—the harvest has practically wrapped up after just over 10 days. Local orchards have run entirely out of supply. Toward the end of the season, oversized U Trung lychees (averaging 17–18 fruits/kg) were aggressively hunted by traders at prices ranging from 100,000 to 120,000 VND/kg, yet quickly faced a "sold-out" situation.

Partnering with multiple orchards across Phuc Hoa Commune (Bac Ninh) and Thanh Ha Commune (Hai Phong) to secure export volumes, Ms. Ngo Thi Thu Hong, General Director of Ameii Vietnam Joint Stock Company, shared that her enterprise is purchasing the U Hong variety at 38,000–42,000 VND/kg. For main-season Thieu lychees, the locked-in price currently sits at 60,000–62,000 VND/kg, roughly 15% higher than the broader market average.

Tightly controlling quality before market entry

At the conference to promote lychee consumption for the 2026 crop season organized by the Bac Ninh Provincial People's Committee on May 28, numerous enterprises expressed demands to procure fresh Bac Ninh lychees in bulk for domestic distribution and export.

Conducting direct field surveys of the cultivation zones, Mr. Olivier Langlet, CEO of Central Retail Vietnam, noted that his corporation has drafted plans to integrate the lychees into its retail networks, targeting a procurement volume double that of 2025.

On June 4, Central Retail will showcase Bac Ninh lychees in prime positions during the Vietnamese Fruit Week held in Dong Thap, promoting this specialty fruit to Southern consumers.

Speaking with reporters, Ms. Ngo Thi Thu Hong revealed that based on raw material zone assessments, her enterprise signed export contracts totaling over 1,000 tons of fresh fruit right at the start of the season. Currently, weekly export volumes exceed 100 tons bound for Japan, the US, and Australia.

"Our greatest anxiety for this year's lychee season is quality. Perhaps due to the crop failure, the fruits are sparser, allowing pests to develop aggressively. A vast number of fruits suffer from stem-end borers which are incredibly hard to detect, posing a massive quarantine risk for exports. The sorting and rejection rate is exceptionally high, leaving us worried that we won't assemble enough raw materials to fulfill orders for our partners," Ms. Hong stated.

Also surveying the raw material zones to map out procurement plans, Mr. Tran An Dong, a representative of an agricultural processing enterprise from Guangdong Province (China), stated that Chinese businesses hold a massive demand for importing Bac Ninh lychees. He and his partners are structuring logistics to transport the fruit across 2,000 km from Quang Ninh to Beijing while fully preserving its freshness.

According to Mr. Dong, beyond fresh fruit, Chinese firms are focusing heavily on processed dried lychees—a high-demand market product with a longer shelf life that can be sold year-round. During this trip to Vietnam, Mr. Dong is exploring opportunities to invest in processing and packaging workshops directly within Bac Ninh.

The Bac Ninh Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development reported that the province manages 243 growing area codes and 42 packing facilities authorized for export to China, the US, Japan, Australia, Thailand, and the EU. Currently, local specialized sub-departments are tasked with strictly supervising these growing codes and packaging facilities, enforcing plant protection chemical protocols, and monitoring pests to guarantee absolute traceability and food safety.

Most recently, on May 27, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development issued a document directing localities to focus on specialized orchard care to raise fruit quality. For early-maturing crops: Localities must instruct farmers to halt all plant protection chemical spraying to ensure mandatory pre-harvest isolation periods. For early Thanh Ha hybrid varieties (harvesting early June): Households must step up water spraying to reduce ambient heat and set up shading to minimize skin sunscald risks.

For main-season Thieu lychees (harvesting mid-June): Producers are advised to utilize balanced and rational fertilizer regimens to nourish the fruits; apply foliar treatments to reduce fruit splitting and dropping; prune pest-infested branches; maintain consistent soil moisture using straw or dry leaves; and shade clusters to prevent sunscald.

Inspecting the cultivation zones directly, Mr. Pham Van Thinh, Vice Chairman of the Bac Ninh Provincial People's Committee, demanded that during this crop season, every single lychee growing area code must undergo multiple rounds of verification—with particular emphasis on chemical residue testing. This ensures that every lychee entering the market is high-quality, completely safe for consumers, and protects the hard-earned brand reputation of Bac Ninh agriculture.

Source: Bao Thanh Nien