Dragon fruit comes to America early in the year.

On the first days of Tan Mao lunar year, Binh Thuan dragon fruit has had many prospects. The price of dragon fruit has been very high in the days before and after Tet, in the time before Tet, especially before Tet, the price reached more than VND 20,000 per kilogram. Now the price at dragon fruit farms is stable at VND 13,000 per kilogram. The number of customers’ orders for this fruits has increased. The first shipments have come to America.


Mr. Bui Dang Hung – Chairman of Binh Thuan Dragon fruit Association said, With the output of more than 300,000 tonnes in 2010, Binh Thuan dragon fruits have been mainly exported to China under the form of cross-border trade.

Particularly, dragon fruits are also exported to other 20 countries, but with small volume. According to Mr. Hung, Binh Thuan dragon fruits exported to China have been sold at the price of USD 19 per kilo in Chinese market.
For many years, the main market share of Binh Thuan dragon fruit is only China. But now, many promising signs have proved that Binh Thuan dragon fruits can penetrate into difficult markets such as America, Japan, South Korea, Chile, Australia... In 2010, Vietnam has exported 1,276 tonnes of dragon fruits to America and Japan including 856 tonnes exported to America, an increase of 8.5 times in comparison with 2009. Inherently, Japanese market is an extremely difficult market for fruits. Last year, 420 tonnes of Binh Thuan dragon fruits were exported to the Land of the Rising Sun, which shows many satisfactory signs.

In 2011, the expected volume of dragon fruit exported to America will be 1,500 tonnes including 1,000 tonnes of An Phu irradiation plant and 500 tonnes of other companies. Yasaka Fruit Processing Co., Ltd with the vapour heat treatment system will export 600 tonnes of dragon fruits to Japan. Although dragon fruits have been made an offer in South Korean market in 2010, South Korean authority has officially informed that dragon fruits throught the vapour heat treatment system are entered into the market, said Mr. Hung.
And 2011 will be the first year of dragon fruit export to South Korea with the amount of 500 tonnes from the contract of Yasaka vapour heat treament plant with Korean companies.

There will be at least 2,600 tonnes of dragon fruits exported to America, Japan and South Korea in 2011. According to statistics, Vietnam has exported 56 tonnes of dragon fruits to America within only 4 days (from January, 1st to 4th, 2011). When dragon fruits are exported under the form of cross-border trade, dragon fruit farms will have high price and stable market.

Phuong Lan (Source: Binh Thuan Newspaper)