It is the law of supply and demand; if there is an excess in supply of a certain product and the demand is low, prices would naturally go down.
This is what is happening right now in Vietnam. Local traders, including the small market vendors, are complaining of the declining price of lychees.
According to the Office of Agriculture and Rural Development of Luc Ngan District in Vietnam’s northern Bac Giang province, lychee farmers had a bumper crop this year. Bac Giang has the largest area cultivated to leech in the whole country.
The over 17,500 hectares cultivated to leech in Bac Giang is expected to produce some 90,000 tons in 2014, much higher than the figure of 72,000 tons in 2013.
Luc Ngan authorities are coordinating with relevant agencies to apply the necessary technology to prolong the storage period of lychees in order to boost exports to new overseas markets.
Vietnam’s General Customs has instructed its personnel in northern Lang Son, Lao Cai and Ha Giang provinces to facilitate procedures for the export of this succulent fruit to China.
Latest customs statistics show that so far some 60,000 tons of Vietnamese lychees have been shipped to China through three border gates in the three provinces.
Apart from China, the Vietnamese government is exploring more ways to help farmers sell their products to the international market.
According to Vietnam’s Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC), as many as 10 tons of Vietnamese lychees are expected to be exported to Japan early this month.
MIC Minister Nguyen Quan said that if the quality of the Vietnamese lychees would pass the sanitary requirements of the Japanese government, Vietnam can increase its lychees export to that country in the coming years.
Meanwhile some Vietnamese vendors have complained about the sluggish sale of lychees in the local market.
“The volume of lychees that I sold during the season this year is much lower than that of last year. Never before have I sold such a small volume of lychees as this season,” Thuy, a vendor in Ngoc Ha Street in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi, told Xinhua recently.
Thuy said that the profit also shrank, at about 5,000 Vietnamese dong (23 U.S. cents) per kg, thus discouraging vendors from continue with the business.
“The current price of lychees is 22,000 Vietnamese dong (1.04 U. S. dollars) per kg, higher than the beginning of the season when the fruit was sold at only 8,000-9,000 Vietnamese dong (37-42 U.S. cents) per kg,” Thuy said.
Thuy said that since farmers produce large quantities of lychees, the price in the market plunges.
She said that some stalls have even stopped selling lychees because of the falling prices.
Source: Global Post