Nghe An: Areca prices fall dramatically, growers lose crops

This year's areca crop is bountiful, with many bunches, many fruits, and beautiful appearance. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Planting nearly 300 areca trees, of which 60 are harvested, this year's areca crop is good, according to estimates, this areca crop, Mr. Tran Van Tang's garden (Tan Tien village, Hung Son commune, Anh Son) will harvest about 1.5 tons of fruit. "With the selling price like in 2021, one ton of areca is worth nearly 100 million VND. However, this year, the areca price is low, so even though there is a good crop, the income is only a quarter of last year," said Mr. Tang.

According to Mr. Tang, his garden's areca nuts were harvested earlier, some were harvested a month ago so the selling price at that time was still high at 30,000-35,000 VND/kg so it was still better. Currently, the areca crop is in the harvest stage with about 30 bunches, about 4-5 quintals of areca nuts butprices fell dramatically, less than 1/10 of last year.

Areca gardens in Hung Son (Anh Son) are full of fruit but have not been harvested for sale even though they are old due to low areca prices. Photo: Thanh Phuc

“If the highest price of 1kg of areca nuts last year was 90,000 VND/kg, now it is only 5,000-7,000 VND/kg. There are also few buyers, traders are also picky, only buying young areca nuts, green skin, long fruit, and dense seeds,” Mr. Tang shared.

According to incomplete statistics, the wholeHung Son communeThere are more than 100 households growing areca trees of several dozen or more; the number of households growing several hundred trees is about 10 households. For many years, areca trees have been the main source of income from the garden economy of households. In years when areca prices are high, many gardens earn hundreds of millions of dong from areca. However, in the 2022 areca crop, despite a good areca crop, growers are quite sad when areca prices fall miserably.

Traders have now resumed purchasing areca nuts. Previously, there was a time when traders temporarily stopped purchasing because China did not import goods. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Not only in Anh Son, areca growers in other districts such as Thanh Chuong, Do Luong, Tan Ky... also lost a large amount of revenue when the price of areca this season "hit rock bottom". Mr. Le Dinh Hung, Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Thanh Nho Commune (Thanh Chuong), a locality that grows the most areca in Thanh Chuong District, said: "The price of areca at the beginning of the season, although only half of last year, was still high at 35-40 thousand VND/kg. But now, it is only 5-7 thousand VND/kg. Hundreds of areca growers in the commune have lost a large source of income."

According to a survey, the current market price for fresh areca nuts ranges from 5,000 to 7,000 VND/kg. Meanwhile, about 1.5 months ago, the price of fresh areca nuts ranged from 30,000 to 35,000 VND/kg and in 2021, the price of areca nuts peaked at 90,000 VND/kg.

Areca nuts are mainly purchased by drying kilns and then imported to China through unofficial channels, so the output is uncertain and prices are unstable. Photo: Thanh Phuc

The price of areca nuts is low, while the cost of hiring areca pickers is high. Traders are picky, so many gardeners do not want to harvest, leaving the areca nuts ripe on the tree. The gloomy consumer market not only causes growers to lose revenue but also makes service workers who "depend" on the areca nuts unemployed.

Ms. Hoai Thuong, owner of an areca nut purchasing agency in Phuc Son (Anh Son) said: “Last year, the price of areca nuts was high. In addition to purchasing on the spot, we also had to hire workers to go to all the communes in the district and other districts to purchase; then hire people to pick the fruits, pack them for export to the kilns. This year, income has decreased a lot.”

Areca prices are low, many gardeners accept to let the areca trees grow old and fall, and use a part of them to grow and sell areca seedlings. Photo: Thanh Phuc

According to traders, the reason for the dramatic drop in areca prices is that China has stopped purchasing, so there is no output.

In recent years, the area of ​​areca cultivation in many localities has been expanded. The reason is that areca trees are easy to grow, taking advantage of vacant land on fences, pond banks, intercropping with fruit trees and vegetables because they do not take up much space, do not require much care, have few pests, and do not break easily. After 5 years, they can be harvested continuously. Therefore, although areca trees have good prices in some years and low prices in others, if compared with other crops in the area such as acacia and cassava, areca trees are still more valuable.

In recent years, the area of ​​areca cultivation in many localities has been expanded. Photo: Thanh Phuc

However, nowadays,areca nut outputunstable, completely dependent on China, so growers also need to consider, localities also need to have planning, recommend people not to massively expand the area...