On the morning of January 14, Ms. Phung Thi Mai - a saleswoman at a large fruit store in Dong Da (Hanoi) continued to sell Chinese milk grapes with the assertion that "the goods have full plant quarantine certificates".

She also introduced that this batch of grapes is old and hard, but the price has been reduced to only 110,000 VND/basket weighing 4.5-5kg. In other words, 1kg of milk grapes costs about 22,000-24,000 VND.

“The store has been importing and selling these grapes regularly since July last year. However, at the end of last year, this type of fruit was involved in a scandal when banned substances and many residual pesticides were discovered in the Thai market. Since then, the store has always included a phytosanitary certificate when selling them,” Ms. Mai shared.

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Chinese milk grapes flood Vietnamese markets on the occasion of Lunar New Year. Photo: NVCC

In recent years, milk grapes - a high-class grape variety that traders call "noble goods" - have flooded the Vietnamese market, sold everywhere in the streets, traditional markets, and online markets at increasingly cheap prices.

In 2024, this noble grape variety will "take the Vietnamese market by storm" with an unprecedentedly low price. Accordingly, milk grapes are commonly sold at 50,000-80,000 VND/kg, with some even priced at only 20,000-30,000 VND/kg.

This type of Chinese grape has large, glossy green fruit, is crunchy, sweet, and has a light milky aroma, so it has gradually become a favorite fruit of many families.

However, at the end of October last year, the Thai Pesticide Alert Network (Thai-PAN) issued a warning about the food safety of milk grapes after discovering that 23 out of 24 tested samples were contaminated with toxic substances exceeding the maximum allowable level. Of these, 9 milk grape samples were identified as imported from China, while the origin of the remaining 15 samples was unknown.

Notably, one sample of milk grapes was found to contain pesticides banned in Thailand; 22 samples contained 14 harmful chemical residues exceeding the safe limit and 50 other pesticide residues. Many pesticides are capable of penetrating the grapes to help them stay fresh longer.

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Many sources advertise "noble" milk grapes for sale at just over 20,000 VND/kg. Photo: NVCC

As soon as news of Chinese milk grapes in the Thai market being discovered to contain many toxic substances was heard, the leader of the Plant Protection Department (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) also informed VietNamNet about the results of inspection and supervision of Chinese grapes imported into Vietnam.

Accordingly, Chinese grapes are included in the food safety monitoring program in 2024. The results of testing 10 grape samples imported from China did not detect any violations of pesticide residues according to Vietnam's regulations. In 2023, testing 77 samples found 1 sample (1.3%) violating regulations.

After Chinese milk grapes were involved in a scandal of toxic substances, many Vietnamese consumers expressed their concern about this fruit. Shop owners also admitted that milk grapes are less popular than before, despite having attached a “plant quarantine certificate”.

However, in the days leading up to Tet At Ty, milk grapes still flood Vietnamese markets, being sold in abundance on large and small online markets. Not only that, this noble fruit is also sold at super cheap prices.

Although the consumption has decreased, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Tuyet - a milk grape seller in Ha Dong (Hanoi) said that this type of Chinese grape is still coming in regularly. Because, both wholesale and retail, every day she consumes about more than 1 ton of packaged milk grapes of 4-5kg (3-4 bunches).

“Today, the Vip grapes arrived, the stems are still fresh, the fruits are big, green, shiny, crispy and sweet with a light milky aroma, but the price is only 100,000 VND/bunch. Buying retail by bunch is 40,000 VND/kg,” said Ms. Tuyet, adding that this is the cheapest imported batch of grapes ever sold.

Ms. Phung Thi Mai also said that the amount of milk grapes the store previously sold wholesale and retail was up to 3-4 tons/day. However, from the beginning of November 2024 until now, the daily consumption of milk grapes has decreased to 2-2.5 tons.

“Although sales are somewhat sluggish, compared to other fruits, grapes are still a popular item to buy because they are cheap,” she said. Not to mention, following the trend in the Tet market, many types of goods have increased in price, while the price of milk grapes is getting cheaper and cheaper, so people still prioritize buying them.

Roughly calculating from the beginning of the grape season until now, customers have bought and consumed several hundred tons of goods, Ms. Mai added.

Over 2,500 billion VND imported, shocked by the price of Chinese grapes at wholesale markets . Traders and businesses have spent more than 2,500 billion VND to import grapes to Vietnam, including many goods from China. Notably, many people were shocked to know the price of Chinese grapes offered at wholesale markets.