Banana leaves abroad are 20 - 30 times more expensive than Vietnamese banana leaves.
Currently, banana leaves are sold at retail prices in domestic markets at around 20,000 VND/kg, or even much cheaper. However, on international e-commerce sites such as Amazon, eBay, etc., banana leaves are being sold at prices 20-30 times higher.
Most of the banana leaves sold on these sites are from Thailand, China, and Japan. A combo of 2 banana leaves from Thailand, sold on Amazon for 17.95 USD (equivalent to more than 410,000 VND), which is more than 600,000 VND/kg, not including shipping costs.
The product advertisement on this page reads: “Banana leaves are not only beautiful but also have a delicate aroma and flavor when food is cooked on them, creating an eye-catching feeling while eating...”.
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| Banana leaves are in abundant supply in Vietnam. |
In particular, Japanese banana leaves are sold by the leaf, priced at 2,280 yen (equivalent to 500,000 VND) on some websites, which has also caused a stir in the Vietnamese community in the land of the rising sun in recent days. If you buy a combo of 3 leaves, the price is 3,700 yen (equivalent to 760,000 VND), 5,700 yen/5 leaves (equivalent to 1.17 million VND).
According to Ms. Trang Thanh Nguyen, a Vietnamese expatriate in Japan, the price of banana leaves in Japan usually includes shipping fees to neighboring provinces, and Japanese people have a habit of using a lot of banana leaves to wrap food in traditional restaurants, so if you buy in bulk, the price is not high compared to the average spending level in the Land of the Rising Sun. Usually, to wrap 10 banh chung for Tet, she spends about 1.5 million VND on banana leaves. According to Ms. Trang, although it is a product consumed all year round, at the end of the year, countries and residential areas that have the custom of celebrating Lunar New Year, banana leaves are consumed strongly, especially in areas where Vietnamese people live abroad, buying them to wrap banh chung and banh tet.
“There is only one time a year for 10 banh chung to remember home and burn incense to remember grandparents. In my opinion, that price is not high,” Ms. Trang shared.