300,000 VND per mango that "spits out words"

Mr. Vo Trung Thanh, head of the fruit shaping club in Tan Phu commune, Chau Thanh district, Hau Giang province, said that this year his group is launching artistic mangoes using new techniques. Instead of using molds to shape the mangoes or carving on them as before, his club has chosen to create color and "write" using sunlight.

According to Mr. Thanh, to create beautiful "lettered" mangoes, he and the artisans must meticulously care for them. When the fruit is the size of a thumb, they use mango bags purchased from Taiwan to protect it and help maintain its beautiful yellow color. When the mangoes reach maturity, they cut the bags and shape them by attaching letters to the fruit. If they want a yellow background with green letters, they block out the light; if they want a green background with green letters, they allow light to shine on the letter frame. For a yellow background with red letters, a special method is required, and these mangoes cost 300,000 VND each.

"Although the mangoes are only the size of a fist, I've already received orders for up to 3,000. Depending on the shape, the price of each mango ranges from 200,000 to 300,000 VND," Mr. Thanh said, adding that each mango with engraved characters weighs between 1 and 1.2 kg. This is a Taiwanese mango variety, so the fruit is of good quality and large. Besides being beautiful for display, this variety also stays fresh longer and has quite delicious flesh.

Before Mr. Thanh, since 2016, several orchards in the Mekong Delta had successfully experimented with printing letters onto mangoes, papayas, coconuts, etc. Although the method was similar, each place applied its own improved techniques, resulting in quite different quality, especially in the color of the letters on the fruit.

Along with artistic mangoes, Mr. Thanh also said that this year they are not creating gourd-shaped watermelons or gold bar-shaped watermelons, but only pomelos. However, due to unfavorable weather conditions this year, his club only managed to produce about 6,000 fruits.

"This year, the pomelo yield is low and many fruits are damaged. Especially in Hau Giang, the number of pomelos is low, so this year the club has partnered with Vinh Long and Soc Trang. Even so, the weather caused the flowers to fall off, so the supply is scarce," Mr. Thanh said, revealing that prices this year have increased by 25-30% compared to last year and will continue to rise after the price adjustment at the end of November in the lunar calendar. Currently, gourd-shaped pomelos are priced from 300,000 to 1.2 million VND per fruit (depending on size and shape).

Mr. Thanh added that the number of orders has already reached 70%. This year, customers placed orders quite early. However, wholesale customers are only taking quantities of 400-600 fruits, not as large as in previous years.