Chinese traders stop buying, lychee prices fall miserably

Although there is still nearly half a month left until the end of the lychee season, most of the lychee weighing points of Chinese traders in Luc Ngan (Bac Giang) have closed, Chinese traders have all returned home, causing lychee prices to plummet, with ripening trees falling all over the garden because there are no buyers.

Worried about his lychee garden with more than 1 ton of fruit ready for harvest but no traders to buy, Mr. Giap Van Huy (Hong Giang commune, Luc Ngan) lamented that for the past 4 days, Chinese traders suddenly stopped buying lychees and withdrew them all to the country. People who transported lychees to town to sell only saw a few traders buying lychees to sell in the southern provinces, while the Chinese traders were nowhere to be seen.

According to Mr. Huy, because Chinese traders stopped buying and withdrew from Luc Ngan, lychee prices fell miserably.

Chinese traders suddenly withdrew from the country, causing lychee prices to drop sharply, causing people to lose tens of millions of dong.

Currently, grade 1 lychees are only sold for about 12,000-14,000 VND/kg, grade 2 lychees are only 3,000-6,000 VND/kg. Meanwhile, in the main season, grade 1 lychees are sold at 25,000-35,000 VND/kg, grade 2 is also sold at 15,000-16,000 VND/kg.

Thus, the price of fabric has decreased by half compared to before, some types of price have even decreased to only 1/3 compared to before.

“There were no buyers at the end of the season due to the hot weather, so the lychees fell off and dried up all over the garden. The loss was estimated at tens of millions of dong per ton of lychees, not a small amount,” Mr. Huy lamented.

Similarly, Mr. Giap Van Thanh (Kep 1 Village, Hong Giang Commune) is equally frustrated because he does not know who to sell the unharvested lychees in his garden.

Mr. Thanh said that every year, Chinese traders come to town to weigh lychees from the beginning to the end of the season, and only leave when the lychee season is over. But this year, for unknown reasons, they left so early.

"Now when I go to town to sell fabric, there are only 1-2 Chinese traders who buy it, but the quantity they buy is very small, not worth mentioning," Mr. Thanh said.

According to Mr. Thanh, the lychee harvest is still half a month away, so households with lychees that ripen early will not suffer any losses. However, households with lychees that ripen late and are just starting to harvest will suffer losses of tens of millions of dong, not a small amount.

“Right next to my house, there is a house that still has 4 tons of lychee unsold, but now the price has dropped so dramatically that they feel like they are sitting on hot coals. My house also has more than a ton left to sell, and with the current selling price, even if there are traders to buy them, they will still lose tens of millions of dong. Without buyers, it will surely fall out of the garden,” Mr. Thanh lamented.

According to Mr. Thanh, people here are all wondering why Chinese traders suddenly withdrew early. Some others think that the lychee harvest in China has begun, so they withdrew and stopped buying.

Mr. Le Ba Thanh, Vice Chairman of Luc Ngan District, said that up to now, the whole district has consumed about 98,000 tons of lychee. Of which, 51,000 tons were exported to China. (21,500 tons were exported through Lao Cai border gate, 28,500 tons were exported through Tan Thanh border gate).

Currently, the whole district has harvested 85% of lychee, only about 15% has not been harvested. Because lychee is 100% ripe at the end of the season, it is only prioritized for consumption in the domestic market and border provinces because this type of lychee is very difficult to preserve when transported long distances. The district does not want to export to other countries because it wants to maintain the reputation of Vietnamese lychee.

Mr. Thanh admitted that Chinese traders had all withdrawn from the country earlier than expected. The reason is that the lychee growing area in Guangdong, China, is in its main season, and in particular, like in Vietnam, the provinces of Fujian and Guangdong (China) are experiencing peak heat, causing lychee consumption demand to decrease significantly, so they withdrew to prioritize the domestic market.

Mr. Thanh also said that in previous years, traders bought lychees until the end of the season, so the price of lychees was stable. However, this year, the lychee harvest in their country coincided with that of Vietnam, so the early return of Chinese traders has affected the lychee selling price in the district.

According to Vietnam.net