Farmers have continuously expanded their orange cultivation areas, leading to a significant increase in the supply while purchasing power is low, resulting in a market surplus.
Currently, the price of king orange at gardens over the Mekong Delta now is only VND2,000 to VND4,000 (US$0.07 to US$0.15) per kilogram.
King orange cultivation is now concentrated in Mekong Delta provinces and cities such as Vinh Long, Hau Giang, Tien Giang, Can Tho, Tra Vinh and Dong Thap.
Sometimes, orange prices soared, bringing profits much higher than rice cultivation, leading farmers to massively switch to orange cultivation on their unproductive rice fields.
That is the main reason for the price to slump to a record low, making orange growers concerned about the risk of significant losses.
At the current time, each kilogram of king oranges is traded for only VND2,000 (US$0.07) at the garden.
The whole Tien Giang Province has about 5,000 hectares of orange cultivation, primarily in Cai Be, Cai Lay and Chau Thanh districts.
Vinh Long is the locality with the largest orange cultivation area in the Mekong Delta, with about 18,000 hectares of orange trees bearing fruit, yielding 70 tons to 100 tons per hectare and over 1 million tons a year.
The Vinh Long provincial authorities indicated that the reason for the significant slump in orange prices is that the fruit is mainly consumed in the domestic market without stable export markets.
