Thai mangosteen is twice as expensive as Vietnamese products

Tropical fruit is already in season. In the South, mangosteen is also about to bloom, but a survey in Ho Chi Minh City shows that most fruit shops display Thai mangosteen at expensive prices.

At the shop on Hai Ba Trung Street (District 1), Nguyen Thi Minh Khai (District 3), grade 1 mangosteen is labeled of Thai origin, priced at 195,000 VND per kg.

According to the evaluation of small traders at the traditional market, the selling price of Thai mangosteen at the beginning of the season is the highest in the past 5 years. Every year, grade 1 Thai mangosteen is only 80,000-100,000 VND per kg, type 2 is 40,000-60,000 VND.

This price is also twice as expensive as Vietnamese mangosteen. A survey at a fruit shop in Go Vap district, Binh Thanh showed that a kilogram of Lai Thieu mangosteen is sold for 95,000 VND, Dong Nai mangosteen is about 85,000 VND. There are almost no Vietnamese mangosteen in traditional markets.

Thai mangosteen is expensive, but many small traders say it is still “easy to sell”. Every day, Ms. Hoa, a small trader in Ba Chieu market (Binh Thanh), shows that she can export all 30 kg boxes. ” Mangosteen is at the beginning of the season, so the quantity is small, especially mangosteen type 1. If you don’t order early, there will be no sales,” Ms. Hoa said.

Explaining the reason for the sharp increase in the price of mangosteen, sellers said that at the beginning of the season, the supply was low, but the demand skyrocketed, so it pushed the price up. At the same time, this year, input costs such as gasoline and transportation costs are 2-3 times more expensive, pushing the selling price of mangosteen to spike.

A representative of Thu Duc Wholesale Market Management Company said that for more than a week, most of the mangosteen in the market are Thai products. However, every day only 12 tons are returned, so the price increases. Currently, the wholesale price at the market is 65,000-75,000 VND per kilogram, a sharp increase compared to the same period last year.

This position also forecast, in about a week, Thai goods will arrive massively and domestic goods will be sold to the market more, the price will cool down. However, this year input costs are high, so mangosteen prices may still be higher than the same period last year.

Mangosteen is a fruit that can be preserved for a long time, has a thick skin, is easy to transport, and is convenient for export. In Vietnam, they are grown in Lai Thieu, Dong Nai, Vinh Long, Tra Vinh…. but the area is limited.

At present, people cannot replicate because this plant produces fruit slowly (7-10 years), it takes time to collect (collect each fruit). Besides, the weather in the South in recent years has not been favorable, so the design of Vietnamese mangosteen is not uniform.

Meanwhile, Thai mangosteen has the largest growing area in the world with 80,000 hectares and only grows high-quality varieties. The form of Thai mangosteen is beautiful, large, uniform, delicious taste, so it is more competitive than Vietnamese products.

Thi Ha