Nghe An: Stone digging is scarce, price increases to record high

Stone peach branches are placed on both sides of the road connecting Tri Le commune, Que Phong district. Photo: Ho Phuong

Nghe An is one of the provinces with a large area of ​​stone peach trees. This quantity is concentrated in 3 mountainous districts: Ky Son, Tuong Duong and Que Phong, especially the 2 districts of Ky Son with about 300 hectares and Que Phong with about 200 hectares. In addition, there is a large quantity of stone peach branches purchased by traders from Laos and brought back to sell in Nghe An.

Peach trees are grown on fields with high terrain. Peach trees often have large petals, light pink color and the flowers last quite a long time. In Nghe An, traders go directly to fields and home gardens of people to buy by garden. Every year, near Tet, traders go to the peach gardens of people to deposit. On the days near Tet, they will come directly to harvest and transport to town, downstream to sell.

There are a few peach growing areas located too far away, so peach growers directly harvest and transport them to the district and commune centers to sell to traders.

Due to the need to transport through many stages and the uniqueness, the price of each stone peach branch is often much higher than that of Vietnamese peach. This year, the price of stone peach branches has increased "dizzily", making it difficult for many stone peach players to choose.

Peach branches worth millions of dong are arranged in rows at a selling point in Que Phong district. Photo: Ho Phuong

Mr. Nguyen Van Manh, a construction materials businessman in Quy Hop district, said: “Compared to previous years, the price of peach blossoms this year is double, even triple. In previous years, in highland areas like Tri Le (Que Phong), or even in Kim Son town, you only had to spend 3 to 5 million VND to own a beautiful peach blossom branch, to give as a gift and display for Tet. This year, to have a satisfactory peach blossom branch, the price for each branch is from 10 to 15 million VND. It is common for people who do not know to be “screamed” from 20 to 30 million VND.”

Every Tet holiday, Mr. Vi Van Huynh, residing in Cau Tam hamlet, Ta Ca commune, Ky Son district, goes to the fields in Muong Long, Nam Can, Tay Son communes to hunt for stone peaches and transport them to the town to sell to local people and a large quantity to traders to transport to the lowlands. This year, the price of stone peaches has increased so the quantity he takes is also small and it is very difficult to sell.

Stone peach, also known as moldy peach, faded peach... is a specialty in the mountainous districts of Nghe An. Photo: Ho Phuong

"Every year, I buy branches in the village and sell them. Every Tet season, I earn tens of millions of dong from selling peach blossoms. This year, Tet is almost here but I haven't sold even tens of millions of dong yet," said Mr. Huynh, adding that the reason why peach blossoms are so expensive is because the weather this year is sunny in winter, so peach blossoms bloom early. In addition, due to unscientific exploitation, the peach growing area is increasingly narrowing. Therefore, right at the root, peach blossom prices are much higher than in previous years.

Many peach hunters were "shocked" by the price of stone peaches in 2019. Photo: Ho Phuong

Another reason why the price of peach blossoms is getting higher and higher is because the demand for peach blossoms (also known as moldy peach blossoms) to celebrate Tet is increasing. In the days before Tet, many traders in the plains districts even drive super-long trucks to the border districts with high terrain to "hunt" for peach blossoms to sell.

Stone peach branches transported from the high mountains to the lowlands take a lot of time and effort. Photo: Ho Phuong