Burning sun, cool oranges at surprisingly cheap prices

This morning, Ms. Phung Thi Diep in Xuan La (Tay Ho, Hanoi) ordered an 18kg box of oranges for 200,000 VND, which is just over 11,000 VND/kg.

Ms. Diep shared that oranges contain a lot of vitamin C. On hot summer days, drinking orange juice helps cool down and is good for health. This time, her children and grandchildren are on summer vacation, so she bought even more oranges.

But unlike many other fruits that have cooling properties, the price will increase sharply in the summer, the price of oranges has been super cheap recently, despite the scorching hot weather.

“A week ago, I was still buying it at 20,000 VND/kg. This price was considered relatively cheap compared to previous years. Now the price is only 11,000 VND/kg, dirt cheap,” she said. Therefore, in the morning, each member of her family drinks a glass of orange juice.

Western-style pomelos - a cooling fruit with a super cheap price. Photo: NVCC

On the “online market”, Western oranges are sold by online traders at super cheap prices, ranging from 10,000-17,000 VND/kg depending on the type. Some sources even sell Vip oranges for only 16,000 VND/kg. However, this price is mostly sold in sets of 5kg or in boxes of 18kg.

Talking to reporters, Ms. Nguyen Thi Luyen, manager of a fruit store in Dong Da (Hanoi), admitted that although the weather is scorching hot, the price of oranges is gradually decreasing. This is quite rare in the hot summer.

She said that about a week ago, her store imported medium-sized oranges from the West to sell for 19,000 VND/kg. Although the fruit of this orange is not as big as the VIP orange, it is ripe, has a shiny skin, deep yellow flesh and is very sweet. After that, the price of oranges gradually dropped to 16,000 VND/kg and now the price is at 14,000 VND/kg.

“This price is cheaper than Wenzhou oranges (China) sold in the market,” she commented. According to her, the oranges in the West are in the peak harvest season. The store imports several tons per shipment, without going through an intermediary, so the price to customers is also cheaper.

Many places sell oranges for only 11,000 VND/kg. Photo: NVCC

This price is sold by 1kg, but most customers order 5-10kg. Because, oranges for juice, each time you squeeze 1-2kg. Therefore, a shipment of 3-5 tons of oranges at Ms. Luyen's store only sells out in about 2 days.

Ms. Bui Thi Mai, a fruit dealer in Cau Giay (Hanoi), said she is selling oranges for 15,000 VND/kg to retail customers, and for customers buying in 18kg boxes, the price is only 11,000 VND/kg.

“In the hot weather, everyone wants to buy foods or drinks to cool down. Oranges are cheap, so they are in high demand,” she said. Every day, there is a shipment of about 200 boxes of oranges. Because customers mostly order by the box, she sells more than 3.5 tons of oranges every day.

According to the Department of Crop Production (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), the output of oranges in the second and third quarters this year is estimated at about 565,000 tons, mainly harvested in the southern provinces. The North has almost no oranges to harvest this season.

According to a report from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, last May, many types of fruit in some southern provinces tended to decrease in price compared to the previous month due to abundant supply.

Specifically, in Tien Giang, the price of Cat Hoa Loc mango is 38,900 VND/kg, down 10,700 VND/kg compared to last month; Cat Chu mango is 18,500 VND/kg, down 5,800 VND/kg; Java rambutan is 20,000 VND/kg, down 750 VND/kg; Thai jackfruit is 25,000 VND/kg, down 7,700 VND/kg; pomelo is 18,000 VND/kg, down 1,250 VND/kg; seedless lemon is 20,200 VND/kg, down 2,000 VND/kg),...

On the contrary, the prices of some fruits tend to increase slightly, such as: watermelon 10,900 VND/kg, an increase of 900 VND/kg; red-fleshed dragon fruit 33,000 VND/kg, an increase of 2,000 VND/kg; white-fleshed dragon fruit 26,000 VND/kg, an increase of 750 VND/kg compared to the previous month.