Are Vietnamese mandarins actually Chinese mandarins in disguise?

Although it's already the end of February in the lunar calendar, many oranges with rough skin (or smooth skin) are still being sold in the market. While sellers claim these are genuine oranges from Ha Giang and Tuyen Quang, some online sellers even suggest they are imported from China. So what is the truth?

Mr. Nguyen Duc Vinh, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ha Giang province, said: Due to the leap year, the orange harvest is late. Furthermore, the price of mandarin oranges was low at the beginning of the year, so growers held back their fruit to wait for prices to rise. Thanks to good care, Ha Giang mandarin oranges yield a fairly high output, from 15-20 tons/ha. Currently, there are still several hundred tons remaining in the province. At this time, the price of fresh oranges cut at the orchard ranges from 15,000 to 20,000 VND/kg.

However, it has been reported that the price of 15,000-20,000 VND/kg only applies to large, shiny, juicy oranges, while smaller, less attractive ones fetch lower prices. Therefore, many families are holding onto their oranges, waiting for the price to rise.

The oranges from Ha Giang and Tuyen Quang are quite similar in appearance, because Tuyen Quang oranges are grown in two areas bordering Ha Giang province.

With orange prices plummeting, some orange growers in Ha Giang are spontaneously expanding their cultivated areas. Mr. Nguyen Duc Vinh also stated that the provincial agricultural sector has planned an orange cultivation area of ​​approximately 5,000 hectares, but this is proving difficult because farmers are expanding their acreage on their own. Therefore, the statistics are incomplete, and the current orange cultivation area in the province is estimated at over 6,000 hectares. "If farmers arbitrarily expand their acreage further, it will be very dangerous, leading to an oversupply that will cause the price of Ha Giang's specialty oranges to drop," Mr. Vinh commented.

Ms. Ta Thi Thu, Director of the Ham Yen Fruit Tree Center (Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ha Giang province), said: Ham Yen district has over 7,000 hectares of oranges, including 5,900 hectares of mandarin oranges, with a production of over 100,000 tons per year. Currently, there are still about 3,000 tons remaining in the orchards. Ms. Thu said that the juicy mandarin oranges from the high mountainous areas are transported to the South for consumption, while the rest are sold in the North. Tuyen Quang mandarin oranges are mainly grown in Ham Yen and Chiem Hoa districts. These two districts border Ha Giang, so Tuyen Quang oranges have a delicious aroma and taste comparable to Ha Giang oranges. The Tuyen Quang orange harvest ends around the beginning of February in the lunar calendar. However, if left in the orchards, the harvest can be extended.

According to the Crop Production Sub-Department of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ha Giang province, the characteristics of Ha Giang mandarin oranges are that the peel is slightly yellowish-brown, with some areas slightly dull and moldy. When cut open, the inside contains seeds, the flesh is dark yellow, juicy, sweet, and fragrant. “Ham Yen mandarin oranges ripen naturally on the tree, are not wrapped in plastic bags, are cut fresh from the fruit and packed into boxes for consumption, and absolutely no spraying, ripening agents, or chemicals are used to accelerate ripening, so consumers can rest assured,” Ms. Ta Thi Thu affirmed.

According to Ms. Thu, consumers shouldn't worry, because after investigation, we found that China doesn't have a variety of orange with rough skin, but mainly produces smooth-skinned, seedless oranges (similar in appearance to V2 oranges, also known as citrus oranges), so it's unlikely that China is falsely labeling them as Tuyen Quang oranges. However, currently, orange growers in Ha Giang and Tuyen Quang provinces don't wrap their oranges in plastic or use chemicals, so if this situation appears on the market, it's possible that the oranges are not from Ha Giang or Tuyen Quang, or that traders are wrapping them themselves for preservation.

According to the Labor Newspaper