It only took a few minutes for Ms. Dam Thi Hai in Dich Vong Hau (Cau Giay, Hanoi) to finalize an order for berries at VND50,000/kg and strawberries at VND100,000/kg. She ordered 2kg of each type of strawberry to get free shipping.
“My family loves to eat this fruit. However, during Tet, the price is expensive, so I only order 0.5kg of marbles at a time,” she said. During this time, all types of strawberries are cheap, so she is willing to buy a few kilos at a time. Accordingly, the marble type is for smoothies or eating with yogurt, and the medium-sized strawberries are for dipping in condensed milk.
As soon as she closed the order, Ms. Hai received a call from the staff, promising that the goods would be delivered 30 minutes later, with a “guaranteed exchange” policy if the strawberries were damaged. During Tet, each time she bought, she had to order 1-2 days in advance to receive the goods.
In Hanoi these days, strawberries - a specialty fruit of Son La province - are "dyed red" from traditional markets to "online markets".
Notably, before Tet, Son La strawberries generally cost from 300,000-500,000 VND/kg depending on size. Grade A strawberries cost up to 600,000-750,000 VND/kg, special strawberries cost nearly 1 million VND/kg.
Now, this Son La specialty is super cheap. Specifically, the price of special strawberries has dropped to 200,000-250,000 VND/kg; large strawberries cost 150,000 VND/kg; medium strawberries cost 100,000 VND/kg; cherry strawberries cost 80,000 VND/kg, and marble strawberries cost 50,000 VND/kg.
Ms. Pham Thi Kieu, who sells fruit online in Minh Khai (Hai Ba Trung, Hanoi), said that Son La strawberries are very expensive at the beginning of the season. She collects orders every 3 days to deliver a shipment of about 30-50kg depending on the customer's order.
But since the Lunar New Year, strawberries have entered the main harvest season, the supply is abundant so the price is super cheap. For the past week, every day she has brought in about 250-300 kg of strawberries of all kinds to fulfill orders for customers.
Regarding the price of strawberries, according to Ms. Kieu, all types are cheap. For example, large, ripe, red strawberries are now only 150,000 VND/kg. Cherry strawberries cost 50,000-60,000 VND/kg. Because of the cheap price, she discarded the strawberries with blemishes and posted them on Facebook to give to customers.
“From morning until now, I have closed nearly 400 orders to buy Son La strawberries,” shared Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhung, an employee of a large fruit chain in Hanoi.
Ms. Nhung said that during strawberry season, the store system has several employees working in shifts like her to close orders. Because, there are days when employees sit until 2 am to close orders, the amount of strawberries sold is up to 3-4 tons/day.
“The prices are cheap so women are racing to close orders,” said Ms. Nhung, adding that these days very few customers order 1kg, most buy 2-3kg per order.
Yesterday, just once, the store advertised medium-sized strawberries for sale on its fanpage at 190,000 VND/4 boxes (500 grams/box), and the store closed 120 orders. Accordingly, in addition to customers ordering a set of 4 boxes, some customers also bought 3-5 sets. The staff also closed orders for other types of strawberries until their hands were "tired".
Talking to PV.VietNamNet , Mr. Nguyen Van Nam - Director of Xuan Quy Strawberry Cooperative in Mai Son (Son La), said that the strawberry harvest season lasts from November until early April of the following year. This is the main strawberry harvest season.
At the beginning of the season, the cooperative only harvested a few hundred kilograms of ripe strawberries each day. But during the peak strawberry season, the cooperative harvested more than ten tons of strawberries each day. These strawberries will be distributed to fruit stores and wholesale markets in Hanoi, and even shipped to Ho Chi Minh City for consumption, said Mr. Nam.
In Son La, strawberries are mainly grown in Moc Chau, Yen Chau and Mai Son. In Mai Son district alone, the strawberry area is up to 450 hectares, the average yield is estimated at over 12 tons/ha, the output is about 5,400 tons. Compared to the 2022-2023 crop, the area increased by nearly 80% and the output increased by over 250%. Therefore, strawberries flooded the market, the price cooled down.
Source
Comment (0)