Farmer Nguyen Van Hoang (in Vinh Thanh commune, Lap Vo district, Dong Thap province) said that this is the fourth year he has shaped the grapefruits in his garden to increase the economic value of the Ruby grapefruit variety with green skin and red flesh.
According to Mr. Hoang, to create a grapefruit with a beautiful, eye-catching shape, from the time the grapefruit flowers until harvest, the grower spends more than 6 months of care. He has to choose round, beautiful grapefruits with large stems... to put into the mold to create the shape. Therefore, each tree has less than 10 fruits to create the shape and engrave the letters.
Mr. Hoang added that shaping grapefruit has very strict technical requirements, the grapefruit must not be exposed to direct sunlight, and must be covered tightly to avoid sunburn. Because direct sunlight will cause the grapefruit to fall or become brown, and the product will not have the desired shape. This year, the weather is not favorable, so the number of grapefruits left is only over 150 pairs.
“The selling price for each pair is over 1 million VND, and more than 70% of the grapefruits have been ordered by regular customers. For the rest, I took pictures of each grapefruit, each shape, and posted them on social networking sites for customers to freely choose,” Mr. Hoang added.
As a regular customer, Mr. Tran Thanh Quang - in Ho Chi Minh City said, the first year he went to the garden to choose each shaped grapefruit to import and sell. But for the past 2 years, he only gave the quantity of each grapefruit shape such as: gourd, water drop, Buddha shape, ... on the day Mr. Hoang will deliver to Ho Chi Minh City.
“The grapefruit products are shaped and engraved with meaningful words, suitable for display during Tet. After use, customers rate the grapefruit as having good quality. After more than a month of displaying for Tet, the grapefruit is still fresh and sweet when eaten. So I choose to buy it to resell,” Mr. Quang added.
Ms. Le Thi Hue - in Binh Minh town, Vinh Long province said that although she lives in a grapefruit growing area, when she saw shaped grapefruit on social media, she bought it to celebrate Tet in 2023 and ordered it for the upcoming Tet Giap Thin.
“Although the price is high, 1.3 million/pair, I am satisfied because of the beautiful green color, no blemishes on the skin of the grapefruit, giving me the belief that life in the new year will be favorable, everything will go smoothly when displaying this grapefruit,” Ms. Hue added.
“The number of quality grapefruits in 2023 is about 150 pairs, 100 pairs less than in 2022, so the quantity of grapefruits may run out sooner than previous years,” Mr. Hoang added.
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