Imported specialty agricultural products are pouring into Vietnam.

There are products that cost up to over half a million VND per fruit or kilogram, but are still ordered by many Vietnamese customers.

American grapefruit

While Doan Hung grapefruit is sold for 20,000-30,000 VND per fruit, Dien grapefruit 30,000-70,000 VND, green-skin grapefruit around 50,000-90,000 VND per kg, recently there has been a type of grapefruit imported from the US and Australia priced at 200,000-260,000 VND per kg, imported by many fruit stores in Hanoi. Most of the products are hand-carried by air, so the price is high.

According to the owner of a fruit shop in Dong Da (Hanoi), she sells hundreds of fruits every day. This type has bright red flesh, sweet and aromatic taste, and is juicy. Each fruit weighs over 2kg, with a yellow and shiny skin. So, if calculated, an American grapefruit costs nearly half a million VND.

Taiwanese custard apple

This is a product that not only fruit shops in Hanoi but also in Ho Chi Minh City are competing to import by air. Taiwanese custard apples are twice the size of Vietnamese products, some even weigh 800-900 grams. This type costs between 360,000-550,000 VND per kilogram (depending on the time), 6-10 times higher than Vietnamese products.

The owner of an imported fruit store in Cau Giay (Hanoi) said that this variety has few seeds, thin skin, and large fruit, so it is quite popular with many customers, especially near Tet when it is very beautiful to display. Taiwanese custard apples are often heart-shaped or round, with a light green skin. The sweetness of this product also has its own unique characteristics.

“I import nearly a ton of this type each time, and it is mainly ordered by regular customers so it is sold out as soon as it arrives. The goods are imported by air so the shipping costs are high. Compared to Thai and Australian products, this product is superior in quality,” said the store owner.

Egyptian pomegranate

This fruit has been sold widely in Vietnam since late 2016 until now, and many people have given it the name "giant pomegranate" because the average weight of each fruit is 0.5 kg, with some weighing nearly 1 kg.

According to the owners of imported fruit shops in Hanoi, this type of pomegranate, although dozens of times more expensive than Chinese products, is still chosen by many customers, with prices ranging from 240,000 to 400,000 VND per kilogram. The "giant pomegranate" has a bright red outer shell and seeds, and tastes sweet and sour, not as sweet as Chinese pomegranates. This fruit is harvested from October to March of the following year. Therefore, in the months near the end of the season, some customers order 5-6 kg at a time to eat gradually.

Japanese sweet potatoes

Has a shape 2-3 times larger than Vietnamese products,Japanese sweet potatoes weigh an average of 300-500 grams each, some up to a kilogram, and are sold at many clean food stores in Ho Chi Minh City for about 540,000 VND per kilogram, while domestic potatoes cost only 15,000-30,000 VND.

Currently, the market sells sliced, sealed in plastic blister packs of about 2-4 pieces per package, weighing 300-400 grams. An employee at a clean food store on Phan Xich Long Street (Binh Thanh, Ho Chi Minh City) said that the Japanese steamed sweet potatoes at the store are often out of stock. This product is quite difficult to import, the quantity is small, so the store can only supply a few dozen kilograms per day. Some places also sell pre-cooked steamed sweet potatoes, packed in vacuum bags, customers just need to reheat them to eat immediately, can keep in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.

Japanese sweet potatoes are now grown in Vietnam, with the highest price being only 50,000-70,000 VND per kilogram. According to agricultural experts, sweet potatoes are easy to grow, have few pests and diseases, and therefore require little use of pesticides. However, to have good yields, the soil quality must be guaranteed, and the climate and water must be stable. Therefore, products grown in Japan will be different from those grown in Vietnam in terms of nutritional content, even though they are the same variety.

According to VNE