In Tien Giang and Long An provinces, high-quality red-flesh dragon fruits fetch only VND6,000-VND7,000 per kilogram, and white-flesh ones are priced below VND4,000 per kg.
As for low-quality, deformed, and over-mature dragon fruits, the price is merely VND1,000-VND2,000 per kg, and traders even refuse to buy them, so dragon fruit farmers have to give them as feed to fish or cattle.
The prices of dragon fruits are low because it has entered the peak harvest season, while the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic makes the export of dragon fruits encounter difficulties.
Many enterprises and establishments collecting dragon fruits in Tien Giang Province have closed due to losses.
The Mekong Delta currently has more than 23,000 hectares of dragon fruit plants, concentrated in Long An and Tien Giang provinces, supplying the market with more than 500,000 tons of dragon fruits per year.
