Indian onions labeled as Vietnamese onions are sold at three times the price.

Grade 2 Indian onions look almost the same as Vietnamese onions, and are cheap, so many retailers have labeled them as domestic products for easy consumption and sold them at double or triple the price.

Recently, purple onions in Vinh Chau (Soc Trang) and Phan Rang (Ninh Thuan) have gone out of season. If there are any left, most people stock up to sell during Tet. However, currently in Ho Chi Minh City markets, purple onions advertised as Vietnamese goods are sold everywhere at the price of 15,000-20,000 VND per kg, in some places selling for up to 70,000 VND.

Surveying the markets in Ho Chi Minh City, many small traders sell Vietnamese purple onions in large quantities. Ms. Hanh, a small trader at An Binh market (District 5) said that the onions she buys from the wholesale market are the best quality, big, round bulbs, and are sold out as soon as they are bought.

“Every day I sell a few dozen kilos, and on days when shops buy in bulk, I sell more. As for the small, round purple onions from An Giang, most of them are preferred by individual customers,” said Ms. Hanh.

Indian shallots are usually round, however type 2 shallots are often irregular and look similar to Vietnamese shallots.

Not only An Binh market, but also Ba Chieu, Thi Nghe (Binh Thanh district), and Pham Van Hai (Tan Binh) markets, purple onions labeled as Vietnamese are also sold in large quantities.

Ms. Hoa, a vendor at Thi Nghe market, said that recently onions have been cheap, so if you buy retail, it's 25,000 VND per kilo, but if you buy wholesale, the price is lower, depending on the quantity purchased.

While many vendors in the markets claim to sell Vietnamese shallots, Ms. Lan, a spice vendor in Thi Nghe, said that in fact, Vietnamese goods are not plentiful these days, and are mostly imported from India and China. These products are not as tasty as Vietnamese products, so they are cheap and are mostly used as spices.

“I often go to the wholesale market to buy goods to sell, but recently there are not many Vietnamese goods, most of them only sell imported goods. The appearance is not much different from Vietnamese goods,” said Ms. Lan.

Sharing with VnExpress, Mr. Tuan, a wholesaler at Thu Duc wholesale market, said that there are currently many Indian goods coming to the market. To ensure quality, he often buys grade 1 onions, the wholesale price to market traders is 5,000 VND per kg, and if buying retail, it is about 8,000-9,000 VND. However, when coming to the market, traders raise the selling price to 20,000-25,000 VND per kg and label it as Vietnamese.

“Phan Rang, Soc Trang purple onions are always popular, 2.5-3.5 cm in size, flat bulbs, but are currently out of stock. Instead of choosing to buy Indian grade 1 goods (round bulbs, 4-5.5 cm in size) as a replacement, traders choose to buy grade 2 onions, the same size as Vietnamese onions to sell,” Mr. Tuan shared, adding that most of his customers have reduced their purchases of grade 1 goods and are hunting for grade 2 goods. This has seriously affected the business of traders of grade 1 goods.

Speaking to VnExpress, Ms. Nguyen Thanh Ha, Deputy Director of Thu Duc Agricultural Wholesale Market, said that last week, Vinh Chau purple onions were still imported to the market, but the quantity was very small because it was out of season. This week, the market only imported some Lien Huong onion products, while Indian and Chinese onions were imported in larger quantities.

“In fact, although high-quality Vietnamese goods are trusted by people, supply is still not enough to meet demand, so traders often import foreign goods at much cheaper prices than domestic goods. If last month, Vinh Chau purple onions were sold at the wholesale market for 30,000 VND per kilogram, Chinese onions were only 15,000 VND; Indian onions were 8,000-9,000 VND. Vietnamese goods have a fragrant, delicious flavor and flat bulbs, while foreign goods are usually rounder and larger,” said Ms. Ha.

According to Ms. Ha, some small traders in retail markets import goods and label them as Vietnamese goods, mainly to make it easier to sell, so it is very difficult to manage. Therefore, consumers should be careful when choosing products to get the right price.

According to VNE