Nghe An traders spend hundreds of millions to buy 'black gold' on trees

Thanh Chuong black plumis a clean, fatty, rich fruit with a distinctive flavor that can be processed into many attractive dishes, a specialty loved by many people. In recent years, the price of fresh black canarium fruit has increased continuously, ranging from 80,000 - 160,000 VND/kg. Black canarium is valued because it is clean, delicious and rare. The fruit output of Thanh Chuong district is estimated at 300 tons/year. Thanh Chuong black canarium is grown in many communes: Cat Van, Thanh Nho, Thanh Huong, Hanh Lam, Thanh Hoa...

Every year, in early summer, when the canarium flowers and bears fruit, canarium traders spread out to localities inside and outside the district, looking for houses with canarium to buy. This year's canarium season, Ms. Pham Thi Phuong in Nho Lien hamlet, Thanh Nho commune (Thanh Chuong) spent nearly half a billion VND to buy canarium flowers.

Accordingly, from the beginning of February, when the canarium trees just bloomed, Ms. Phuong traveled around the communes.Thanh Nho, Thanh Hoa, Cat Van, went to the canarium gardens to order. After "looking" at the canarium trees, checking the number of flowers, the age of the trees, they decided to "pay" to buy the whole canarium tree before it bore fruit.

“The price depends on the tree, its age, and the expected yield of canarium fruit. Some trees cost only a few hundred to 1 million VND, but some can cost up to 15-20 million VND. The profit or loss of this canarium business depends a lot on luck and a little experience,” Ms. Phuong said.

The luck here is when buying canarium in bloom, sometimes the flowers are many but the fruit is few, or sometimes the young fruit hangs on the tree but unfortunately the weather is not favorable, just a storm, canarium branches break, fruit falls then it is considered a loss. On the contrary, if the year canarium has a good harvest, good price then there is profit, even a big profit.

“In 2021, I spent 600 million VND, the canarium fruit had a good harvest, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, I could not sell it, the price dropped miserably, so I lost hundreds of millions of VND. In 2022, I spent nearly 500 million VND to buy canarium fruit when it was in bloom. The canarium fruit had a good harvest and good price, after deducting expenses, I still made a profit of nearly 100 million VND. Like this year, I also spent nearly 500 million VND to buy canarium fruit. In early February, the canarium flowers were heavy, I thought it would be a good harvest so I ordered crows at a high price, but unexpectedly in March, there was heavy rain, all the flowers fell off; then there was a drought, the canarium fruit crop failed, so this canarium fruit season, I was sure to lose money, if the canarium price was high, I might break even,” Ms. Phuong shared.

Having been trading canarium for decades, Mr. Tran Thang in Thanh Lien commune said that the profession of trading "whole canarium trees" is "all or nothing". Because canarium is bought when it is in bloom or has young fruit, but when harvested and sold to agents, it is ripe canarium, and from the time of paying until harvesting lasts 5-6 months.

“During that time, traders like us also had to regularly visit the garden, check the trees to see if the canarium fruit rate was high, if they were broken or dropped, and if they had a good harvest or not. We spent money to buy when the trees were just blooming, so profit and loss depended on the weather. If the season was good and the price was good, we would make a profit; if the season was bad and the price dropped, we would lose. But in fact, we rarely made a loss because there was compensation. The whole canarium garden had dozens of trees, some had few fruits, some had many fruits; in bad years, the price was good, so one compensated for the other, so the loss was not significant,” said Mr. Thang.

Also according to Mr. Thang, in the past, canarium was cheap, so people bought it when it was ripe, and after buying it, they harvested it immediately in the style of "pay and get the porridge". Now canarium is expensive, many people buy it, so canarium traders have to buy young canarium, even when the tree has just bloomed with a large amount of capital, at least 50 million VND, at most 100 million VND, even some "canarium bosses" spend billions of VND.

When buying, the canarium tree is only flowering or has young fruit. When the canarium is ripe, people are hired to harvest and sell it to the "brokers" to make a profit.

“In addition to the loss due to fate, there are also cases where the canarium fruit is bought, but before it is ripe, it is stolen by thieves, or the owner of the house is not good and the fruit is pruned,” said Mr. Dinh Manh, a canarium fruit trader in Hoa Son commune (Do Luong).

Plant 500canariumsticky rice, of which 150 trees have been harvested, all are native canarium varieties, rich, fragrant, and sticky, so right from when the canarium trees first bloomed, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa's family in Hamlet 4, Hanh Lam Commune (Thanh Chuong) had many traders come to buy young canarium. However, this year, Ms. Hoa did not sell young canarium but waited for it to ripen, harvested it, and weighed it to sell to traders.

Because last year, 3 tons of ripe canarium fruit, sold at a high price, her family earned nearly 200 million VND. The year before, selling young canarium fruit, her family only earned 120 million VND. Or one year, after receiving money from the trader, some trees cost 1 million VND, some trees cost up to 20 million VND, the whole canarium garden was sold for 150 million VND, but when they harvested, they only got about 1 ton of canarium fruit, less than 100 million VND.

“Selling canarium flowers or young fruits depends on luck for both the buyer and seller. In a year when the canarium is in full bloom and the price is high, we might end up selling it young at a low price and regret it later. On the contrary, in a year when the crop is bad and the price is low, the amount of ripe canarium sold is lower than the amount of money the traders paid, and we can’t bear it. Therefore, this year, although many traders came to see the garden and paid a deposit when the canarium flowers were just starting to bloom, we didn’t accept any money from anyone. We waited for the canarium to ripen and then harvested and weighed it for sale,” said Ms. Hoa.