Ornamental plant traders in Vinh simultaneously 'sell off' on 28th of Tet
(Baonghean.vn) - Today is only the 28th of December, but due to low purchasing power, many traders selling peach and kumquat trees for Tet have simultaneously sold them at the same price in the hope of selling all the trees to return home for Tet shopping. However, the number of customers asking to buy is still low.
This year's Tet holiday, the professionflower and ornamental plant businessencountered many difficulties and disadvantages. The cold weather and drizzle at the beginning made it difficult to transport the plants, and it was a leap year so the flowers all bloomed early. Meanwhile, purchasing power dropped to a record low, many gardens only sold 10-20% of the number of plants. The remaining ornamental plants are still abundant even though it is now the 28th of Tet, which means only 2 days until New Year's Eve.
Mr. Nguyen Van Dong, a Tet kumquat trader, sighed: In 5 years of selling Tet ornamental plants, business has never been as slow as this year. I have over 500 kumquat trees of all shapes and sizes, but I have not sold even 100 of them. Even the trees that are sold are mainly small kumquat trees for the table, bonsai kumquat trees... the large kumquat trees, which have a high import price, have very few customers asking to buy. Now I just hope to have enough capital to go home.
That is also the common mood of thousands of traders selling Tet ornamental plants in Vinh City at the moment. Walking around the streets, it can be seen that the number of people buying plants is not as high as in previous years. In many gardens, there are only traders sitting together chatting and waiting for customers. In particular, high-end plants, worth tens of millions of dong, are still lying around in large quantities.
The owner of a peach and kumquat tree shop on Lenin Avenue said: This year the economy is difficult, people have low incomes, so customers only buy small, cheap trees, ranging from 200,000 to 500,000 VND. We have only sold a handful of million-dollar trees since the beginning of the season. This year we are definitely losing money...
Faced with the sluggish situation, many retailers have started to put up signs to sell off their Tet ornamental plants, even though this usually only happens on the 30th of Tet. Small peach and kumquat branches are sold at the same price from 100,000 to 300,000 VND. Larger trees are sold at the same price from 500,000 to 1 million VND/tree. For giant trees that cost tens of millions, prices have now dropped by 50-70%.
However, according to records, the price reduction has not made the gardens more bustling. At the tree clearance points, buyers are also sparse.
Not only doing business directly, currently, on social networks, many garden owners have also posted articles on forums and groups hoping that the community will "rescue" ornamental plants with specific pictures of each plant. If customers choose to buy, they will ship it to their home and ensure that the plant they receive is the same as the one in the picture. This is a business method that has also brought certain effectiveness compared to waiting for customers to buy directly at flower shops on the street.
