Durians can be seen in Tien Giang province, in the Mekong Delta region. Photo by VnExpress/Hoàng Nam
Durian traders in southern Vietnam pay up to VND145,000 ($5.95) per kilogram, nearly double year-on-year, due to limited supplies in the low season.
The Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang has seen many workers moving in and out of farms to transport durian to factories, as traders seek to buy as much as they can.
Trader Phan Minh Quan now offers farmers 135,000 VND ($5.55) per kilogram and he buys up to five tons every day. He and other traders even hire locals to find new farms and make offers.
Farmer Nguyen Van Linh owns 4,000 square meters of Monthong durian, which he has been growing for eight years. He is offered 130,000 VND per kilogram, almost double from one year to the next, for eight tonnes of durian.
“We are expected to benefit from 900 million dong this season,” Linh said.
The reason for these high prices is the off-season and only farmers who changed their farming strategy years ago in favor of the off-season can sell their fruits now.
Growing out of season requires complex techniques to deal with adverse weather conditions, but farmers can get bigger profits by selling them during a period of low supply.
“There is a supply shortage as durians are expected to run out in about a month,” said Vo Van Men, head of the Tien Giang horticulture department.
Tien Giang has nearly 18,000 hectares of durian, and 2,600 hectares have been approved for origin tracing.