Farmers in Nghe An pineapple 'warehouse' face losses due to oversupply and falling prices

Ms. Nguyen Thi Dao's family in village 26/3, Tan Thang commune planted 3 hectares.Queen PineappleBefore the Lunar New Year of the Tiger, the family harvested and sold nearly 2 hectares of pineapple and now there is 1 hectare left to harvest.

Ms. Dao said that before Tet, pineapples were sold for 5,000 VND/kg, but at this time, traders only buy them for 3,200 - 3,500 VND/kg, which is only enough to cover care costs, and even losses if the pineapples have pests and diseases and have poor productivity.

Farmers in Tan Thang commune (Quynh Luu) harvest pineapples. Photo: Viet Hung

“Since Tet, fertilizer prices have increased, and the cost of hiring workers to take care of, weed, and harvest pineapples has also increased. At this time last year, pineapples were sold for 6,500 - 7,000 VND/kg, but now traders are only buying them for 3,200 - 3,500 VND/kg (half the price compared to before). If this price continues until the end of the season, it will be considered that this pineapple crop, which people have been growing for more than a year, has been for nothing,” said Ms. Dao.

Tan Thang commune hasThe largest pineapple growing area in Quynh Luu districtwith 840 hectares with an average yield of 33 tons/ha. Pineapple is identified as the main crop, accounting for over 60% of the agricultural income of the whole commune. According to pineapple growers, from the beginning of 2022 until now, pineapple prices have fallen to the lowest level in the past 2 years.

Pineapples take 16 to 18 months to harvest. At this time, the consumption market is slow, so many pineapples are left to ripen in the fields. Photo: Viet Hung

According to people's calculations, growing 1 hectare of pineapple until harvest will cost about 76 million VND in expenses. If 1 hectare of pineapple yields 33 - 34 tons/ha and is sold at 4,500 VND/kg, it will bring in revenue of 153 million VND, after deducting costs, the profit will be 77 million VND/ha. However, after Tet holiday until now, pineapples are only sold for 3,200 - 3,500 VND; after deducting costs, 1 hectare of pineapple will have a profit of 10 - 13 million VND, not including the care cost for more than 1 year.

According to the assessment of Tan Thang Commune People's Committee, the reason affecting pineapple prices is that in 2020, the high price of pineapple brought great profits to people, so after that, many households planted pineapples, leading to an increase in the harvested pineapple area. In addition, the pineapple consumption market is unstable; Pineapple factories in the area are not operating effectively, so people mainly consume products mainly in the district, province (32%) and factories in the North (54%). From the end of 2021 until now, the Northern market has encountered difficulties due to the impact of Covid-19, China's restrictionsagricultural importsgreatly affecting consumption, so it is concentrated in factories in the North... This is also the main reason for the low price of pineapple.

Traders buy pineapples for people and then transport them to pineapple factories in the northern provinces. Photo: Viet Hung

Due to the impact of the consumer market, the supply exceeding demand has also caused many traders in Quynh Luu district not to dare to buy much, to avoid the situation of pineapples being left for a long time and causing damage. Mr. Le Thanh Nghi - Pineapple trader in Tan Thang commune (Quynh Luu) said: Compared to last year, the output market is only half. During the year, people harvested pineapples and sold them at a good price, so they made a small profit, but now the price of pineapples is low, so they will suffer losses. On the hills, pineapples are ready to be harvested but cannot be consumed, many households leave ripe pineapples in the fields, unable to sell them in time. Like previous years, from about the 8th day of Tet until now, families have purchased about 500 tons, but now it is only half of last year's output, the reason is that supply exceeds demand, the consumer market has decreased sharply".

Quynh Luu district has over 1,000 hectares of pineapples, mainly grown in Tan Thang, Quynh Thang and Quynh Chau communes. It is expected that from now until the end of December 2022, the pineapple harvest area will be about 600 hectares; mainly concentrated in the period from March to June with 250 hectares, the output reaching over 7,200 tons. In order to stabilize pineapple products for farmers, localities are focusing on solutions to stabilize prices soon and find more markets for products.

Pineapple purchase price of 3,200 - 3,500 VND/kg causes households to lose hundreds of millions of VND. Photo: Viet Hung

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Khanh - Chairman of Tan Thang Commune People's Committee (Quynh Luu) said: To help people stabilize production, especially when pineapple prices are low, the Commune People's Committee propagates to people to strengthen technical measures to master the pineapple production process from planting, caring for flowers and processing ripe pineapples at the right time; The Commune builds a working plan with Dong Giao Pineapple Factory to learn and connect to purchase products for farmers.

In addition, the commune also worked with the 7 households that purchased the most pineapples to promote pineapple consumption for households; at the same time, confirmed the origin of Tan Thang pineapples so that households could bring them to the Southern market more conveniently; encouraged households to take advantage of Route 48D to open business locations and promote Tan Thang pineapple products, thereby increasing product value and income for surplus labor.