Over ten million dong for a 'hibernating' Christmas tree

Besides artificial pine trees, this Christmas, for the first time, imported real pine trees have appeared in the Ho Chi Minh City market with prices ranging from several million to nearly 20 million VND per tree.

It was not until December 9 that the shipment of 200 real Christmas trees imported from the US would reach customers, but currently, Ms. Diep Nguyen - director of a company in District 2, Ho Chi Minh City said that people in need have come to the office to order almost all of them. As the first and only unit to import real trees for sale, Ms. Diep assessed that the market is receiving this product very positively.

Up to now, the Christmas tree market in Vietnam has been almost completely dominated by artificial trees, the few people who need real trees have to order them from the US and import them individually by air. However, the cost for each tree imported this way is very expensive, equivalent to a plane ticket for one person from the US to Vietnam. The reason is that the domestic real pine source does not have the right foliage characteristics to make Christmas trees, and there are no farms that grow the pine varieties specifically used to decorate for this holiday season. Therefore, Ms. Diep decided to explore the market by importing two types of real pine trees, Nordmann-Fir and Noble-Fir, from Oregon (USA) by sea.

The pine trees are bundled, packed in wooden boxes and left to "hibernate" at low temperatures for 4 weeks before being shipped to Vietnam. In this way, she sells each tree on the market for 3 to 5 million VND, depending on the height from 1.8m to 2.4m. In particular, a few trees with a height of 3.7m are sold in limited quantities for nearly 18 million VND.

This Christmas season, for the first time, there are imported real pine trees to serve the market.

According to Ms. Diep, the main customers are foreign families living in Vietnam, who want to feel the Christmas and New Year atmosphere like at home. Others are foreign business customers who need to decorate and give gifts to VIP partners.

“Foreigners celebrate Christmas as much as the Lunar New Year in Vietnam. That’s why, for foreigners or those who have been exposed to real Christmas trees, the feeling is very different from fake trees. So when they know there are sellers, they are ready to buy,” Ms. Diep said.

According to the supplier, real pine trees can be displayed for up to 8 weeks. In Vietnam's weather conditions, pine trees can stay fresh for about 6 weeks. Real pine trees have the advantage of being environmentally friendly, have a pleasant natural fragrance and do not need to be decorated too elaborately to be beautiful. Compared to large artificial pine trees, real pine trees are not too expensive, but because they can only be used once, they are still limited by the customer base. However, because of the positive business situation, Ms. Diep said she is planning to expand production next year, targeting more Vietnamese customers. Currently, her company is also preparing some trees to give to large churches and shopping centers in Ho Chi Minh City to stimulate demand for the market next year.

“The Vietnamese market has never had a choice, over and over again it is fake pine trees, either fake of this kind or fake of another kind. But if people import real pine trees, many people are afraid of the risk of not being able to sell them, and after Christmas they will be firewood,” Ms. Diep shared about her decision.

According to the National Christmas Tree Association, the United States is the world's leading supplier of real Christmas trees, selling about 25-30 million trees each year. Meanwhile, 80% of fake trees are produced in China. Christmas trees in the United States are grown mainly in the states of Oregon, North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Washington. On average, it takes 7 years from planting to harvest. Larger trees take up to 15 years to care for.

In the market for Christmas decoration products this year in Ho Chi Minh City, in addition to real pine trees and artificial pine trees, some fresh trees shaped like pine trees are also sold by some ornamental plant and fresh flower shops, mainly: fragrant pine, green pine, cedar and cypress. The potted plants sold are about half a meter high, prices range from 90,000 to 160,000 VND. Particularly, poinsettia, with bright red leaves, is also used to decorate a lot during the Christmas season, and is sold by ornamental plant shops on Le Hong Phong, Thanh Thai, Bac Hai... for 80,000-90,000 VND per pot.

“My store started selling real miniature pine products at the end of November. There are a lot of orders. When customers make appointments to buy online, I usually ask them to notify me in advance so I can prepare the trees for fear of running out of stock,” said Ms. Duyen, an employee at a store on Le Thi Rieng Street, District 1.

According to VNE