Chinese grapes flood into Vietnam

Peony, queen, ruby grapes... from China are flooding into Vietnam at increasingly cheap prices, with some products costing only a few tens of thousands of dong per kilogram.

Five years ago, China mainly exported green and red seedless grapes to Vietnam. In the past two years, the market has become more diverse with mid-range to high-end grapes. Grape varieties such as peony, red queen grapes, and black grapes – originally imported from the US, Japan, and Korea – have now been successfully grown in China and exported to Vietnam at low prices.

Ms. Lan Anh (Go Vap) just bought a basket of 5 kg of peony grapes for 230,000 VND, or only 46,000 VND per kg. If bought individually, the price is only 90,000 VND per kg. This is a 30% decrease compared to the same period last year.

She recalls that five years ago, Japanese peony grapes cost up to several million VND for a 0.7 kg bunch, but now grapes grown in China, although their quality is only 80-90% of that of Japanese goods, are much cheaper.

Peony grapes are sold at Thu Duc agricultural wholesale market (HCMC). Photo: Linh Dan

Similarly, Ms. Hanh (Binh Thanh) also said that she did not dare to spend money to buy Queen grapes because of the high price, but now imported goods from China cost only 300,000 VND for a box of 3 boxes weighing 1.2 kg. The goods were transported in a short time so the stems were still fresh as if they had just been cut in the garden.

In traditional markets and stores, Chinese grapes of many different varieties are widely sold, even appearing in many supermarkets at attractive prices. On online sales channels, dozens of varieties such as milk grapes, rubies, black grapes, red grapes... are sold at wholesale prices of only a few tens of thousands of VND to hundreds of thousands of VND per kilogram.

Peony grapes cost 230,000-270,000 VND per 5 kg, queen grapes cost 300,000-350,000 VND per 1.2 kg box, ruby grapes cost 280,000-300,000 VND per 8 kg, and red grapes cost 250,000 VND per 5 kg. If bought retail, the price is around 60,000-300,000 VND per kg (depending on the type), down 5-15% compared to the same period last year.

Explaining the reason for the low price of Chinese grapes, Ms. Hong, a fruit importer at Thu Duc wholesale market (HCMC), said that it was because grapes were in harvest season. In addition, importing large quantities enjoyed high discounts, attracting many wholesalers to import in large quantities. Every week, she imported about 10 tons of grapes and always sold them all to wholesalers.

Mr. Thanh, an importer in District 12, agrees that the market this year is flooded with Chinese grapes, with many famous varieties from Japan successfully grown here. Their prices are only a quarter of those imported from other countries, suitable for the budget of Vietnamese consumers. Some varieties of grapes from China are even cheaper than Vietnamese ones.

To attract customers, Chinese export facilities divide the products into baskets or boxes of 2, 3, 5 kg so that the wholesalers can easily import and sell to customers.

Seeded red grapes are sold at a traditional market in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Thi Ha

A report from the Thu Duc agricultural wholesale market shows that in the first 7 months of the year, the market imported nearly 117 tons of Chinese grapes, an increase of 50% over the same period last year. The average price of grapes this year is from 46,000 to 80,000 VND per kilogram, cheaper than last year.

According to the wholesale market leader, Vietnam has many famous grape growing regions but the output is increasingly modest compared to domestic consumption demand. In particular, this year the weather is not favorable, the prolonged heat has caused Ninh Thuan grapes to soften, the output has also decreased compared to the same period. Ninh Thuan grapes are in the early autumn season so there are not many products for sale. Therefore, Vietnam is strongly increasing the import of grapes from China, the US... to meet consumer demand.

According to Customs, China is the largest market supplying fruits and vegetables to Vietnam, with an import turnover of nearly half a billion USD in 7 months, accounting for 35% of the market share and increasing by 29% compared to the same period last year. Apples are the most imported item, followed by grapes.

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