Chrysanthemums grown for the Lantern Festival (15th day of the first lunar month) are selling for nearly double the price they did during Tet (Lunar New Year).

A tour of flower gardens in Dien Chau and Yen Thanh districts these days reveals that there isn't much yellow chrysanthemum left. Meanwhile, traders are looking to buy chrysanthemums to sell during the Lunar New Year's full moon festival. This is also the reason why the price of yellow chrysanthemums has surged dramatically, almost doubling compared to the recent Lunar New Year.

In the flower fields of Hoa Thanh town (Yen Thanh district) on February 9th (the 12th day of the first lunar month), flower garden owners were busy harvesting the remaining flower beds to sell to customers. Mr. Phan Quoc Nam, a chrysanthemum garden owner, said that during the recent Lunar New Year, yellow chrysanthemums were priced at 3,000 VND per plant, but this year, for the first full moon of the first lunar month, the price has increased to 5,000 VND per plant, and there aren't many available for sale.

“Like in previous years, our family plants 2-3 batches of chrysanthemums to sell before Tet (Lunar New Year) and after the New Year. Therefore, during the recent Tet holiday, we sold nearly 120,000 chrysanthemum plants of various types, and for this year's Lunar New Year, we sold 70,000 plants. With a selling price of 5,000 VND per plant, chrysanthemum growers are delighted because they are making a good profit,” Mr. Phan Quoc Nam shared.

Next door is the chrysanthemum garden of Ms. Nguyen Thi Dien's family, which is also being sold to traders. Ms. Dien said that during the Lunar New Year festival, chrysanthemums are sold at the garden for wholesale buyers at 5,000 VND/plant and retail at 7,000 VND/plant. With approximately 50,000 chrysanthemum plants harvested during this period, her family earned nearly 300 million VND.

"To get chrysanthemum beds that ensure both uniform plant height and large, beautiful flowers, flower growers have to meticulously care for them for three months straight. This includes not only the cost of seeds and fertilizers, but also the cost of electricity consumed for many months, having to keep hundreds of light bulbs on all night to help the flowers grow," Ms. Dien shared.

For the chrysanthemum garden of Mr. An Tuyet's family in Dien Ky commune (Dien Chau district), this Lunar New Year, they are only selling wholesale at prices ranging from 3,000 to 3,500 VND per plant. Explaining why the chrysanthemums here are sold at a lower price than in Yen Thanh, Ms. Tuyet said that because the chrysanthemum plants and flowers in her garden are smaller, they can be sold at a cheaper price than elsewhere.

“During the recent Lunar New Year, we sold the flowers at 2,500 to 3,000 VND per plant and made a profit; this January, we are selling them at a higher price, so the profit has clearly increased, and thanks to that, flower growers are making a profit this year,” said Mr. and Mrs. An Tuyet.

Chrysanthemum cultivation in Nghe An province has developed strongly over the past 5-7 years, primarily to supply the province's fresh flower market. According to local data, Yen Thanh district has approximately 15-20 hectares dedicated to Tet (Lunar New Year) flowers; Dien Chau district has about 10 hectares. In addition, other localities such as Quynh Luu, Hoang Mai town, Vinh City, Hung Nguyen district, Nam Dan district, etc., have a significant number of people growing and selling chrysanthemums.

However, most chrysanthemums were sold during the Lunar New Year, leaving only a small portion for sale in January. Meanwhile, the demand for yellow chrysanthemums in January is quite high, so according to experienced flower growers, the price of chrysanthemums usually increases after the Lunar New Year compared to the Lunar New Year period.