Soi Ha grapefruit costs 2,000 VND/fruit and is sold everywhere in the market, cheaper than Chinese goods.

“Soi Ha grapefruit is a famous grapefruit variety of Tuyen Quang, especially in Soi Ha commune, Yen Son district of this province. The grapefruit has a thin, light yellow peel when ripe, the inside is full of juicy pulp, with a sweet and refreshing taste.”

That is the familiar introduction on the Facebook page of Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh in Cau Giay (Hanoi) about the Soi Ha grapefruit that she is selling. Along with that advertisement, she said that each grapefruit of this specialty costs only 2,000 VND, a bag of 50-70 fruits costs 150,000 VND.

“I have been selling at this price for a month now. Customers always buy half a bag or a whole bag at once to eat gradually because the price is super cheap, while the grapefruit withers more and more, making it more delicious and sweet,” she said. Therefore, every day, Ms. Thanh sells out hundreds of bags of this type of Soi Ha grapefruit.

morning sun — Soi Ha grapefruit specialty is sold everywhere in the market at cheap prices. Photo: NVCC

However, Ms. Thanh also admitted that the price of 2,000 VND is for small grapefruit, which is always available in large quantities at the warehouse. As for the super VIP selected products, weighing from 0.8-1.2 kg/fruit, she is selling them for 12,000 VND/fruit, buying a whole bag for 350,000 VND/35 fruits - the goods are guaranteed to be eaten down to each fruit.

“Soi Ha Vip grapefruit is very rare, not available every day. For example, this past week, the store has only received one shipment, less than 50 bags,” she shared.

For over a month now, Soi Ha grapefruit has been sold everywhere in markets and stores. On online markets, just type in the keyword “Soi Ha grapefruit” and immediately a series of results will appear with sources selling this type of grapefruit for only 1,000-2,000 VND/fruit. This price is extremely cheap compared to the price of grapefruit currently sold on the market, even 1/20 the price of Chinese grapefruit sold in Vietnamese markets.

Ms. Le Thi Minh Phuong - a fruit dealer in Ha Dong (Hanoi) - advertised a batch of Soi Ha grapefruit that had just arrived at her store: "The grapefruit at the end of the season is ripe, the sweetness is stronger so the price has also increased". However, the price of a bag of 60-70 Soi Ha grapefruit at her store is only 150,000 VND/bag (about 2,100-2,500 VND/fruit), if you buy each fruit separately, it costs 3,000 VND/fruit.

This time she brought in a batch of 100 grapefruits, of which more than 30 have been ordered by customers. She plans to sell the rest by tomorrow.

When sharing the price of Soi Ha grapefruit with VietNamNet, Ms. Hoang Thi Nga - a fruit wholesaler in Vinh Phuc - said: "The price is even cheaper than vegetables". According to her, it is difficult to buy a bunch of vegetables at the market for 1,000-2,000 VND, but the wholesale price of Soi Ha grapefruit for wholesalers is only 1,000 VND/fruit.

Each time she receives thousands of bags of fruit of all sizes, so the price of each type is different. The cheapest is the ball size, only 1,000 VND/fruit, the medium size is 2,000 VND/fruit, the large size is 5,000 VND/fruit. This price applies to wholesale customers who buy 5 bags or more, Ms. Nga said.

Ms. Vu Thuy Quynh - a fruit wholesaler in Hoang Mai (Hanoi) - also said that she is retailing Soi Ha grapefruit at the same price as wholesale. Accordingly, the small grapefruit costs only 2,000 VND/fruit; Vip grapefruit costs 8,000 VND/fruit, buying a whole bag of 40 fruits costs only 270,000 VND.

“These days, it’s the end of the season so the price has increased slightly. In the middle of the season, the goods flooded the market and were cheaper than now,” she said. Also because the goods were super cheap, individual customers kept the whole bag, the amount of Soi Ha grapefruit she wholesaled and retailed was up to several hundred bags per day.

According to Ms. Le Minh Phuong and many other traders, in recent years, people have expanded the area of Soi Ha grapefruit cultivation. This grapefruit variety bears a lot of fruit, and during the harvest season, it is mainly consumed in the domestic market. Therefore, when the supply is abundant, the price of grapefruit is also getting cheaper.

Because grapefruit is cheap and can be stored for a long time, people often buy dozens of grapefruit at a time. Because grapefruit is not only peeled and eaten directly, many people also buy it to squeeze the juice to drink.

Racing to grow then 'collapse': Sweet oranges are having to be 'rescued', grapefruits are cheap as if given away. Sweet oranges in Vinh Long are falling in price and need to be 'rescued', while other types of grapefruits are getting cheaper, even Dien grapefruits are cheap as if given away. This is the consequence of racing to grow leading to 'collapse'.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/buoi-soi-ha-gia-2-000-dong-qua-ban-la-liet-cho-re-hon-ca-hang-trung-quoc-2337135.html