Chili prices fluctuate

The fertile land along the Tra Khuc River in Thanh Khiet Village (Nghia Ha Commune, Quang Ngai City) is very favorable for agricultural cultivation. In addition to leafy vegetables, farmers in this area also grow a lot of chili.

In recent days, Mr. Nguyen Phung and his wife in Thanh Khiet village have been going to the fields early in the morning to harvest the early-ripening winter-spring 2024-2025 chili crop to sell to traders.

Fresh chili purchasing facility, processing and packaging chili. Photo: Van Ha.

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“This year the weather was bad, with prolonged cold rains, so the chili peppers grew slowly and underdeveloped. The price at the beginning of the season was quite high but dropped quickly. I sold them twice, the first batch was 60,000 VND/kg, the next batch was only 35,000 VND/kg. Some farmers in the commune sold chili peppers around the beginning of March 2025 at prices up to over 70,000 VND/kg,” Mr. Phung shared.

Chili is not yet in peak harvest, while the market fluctuates erratically, prices fluctuate daily, making farmers anxiously watch.

It is worth mentioning that after the price dropped by half in early April 2025, the price of chili suddenly increased to 70,000 VND/kg. Many people believe that the price of chili is likely to continue to increase because the area and yield of chili this year have both decreased compared to last year.

Chili prices are rising but people are still worried. Photo: Van Ha.

“Chili prices have fallen for 5-6 consecutive years, making no profit, so this year I only planted nearly 2 sao. Last year I planted 4 sao, but at peak harvest time, the price was only 4,000-5,000 VND/kg, and the cost of picking was high, so I didn’t harvest, and whoever wanted to pick could pick. This year, many people have also reduced their acreage for fear of losing money. Maybe for this reason, chili prices will be more favorable,” said Mr. Nguyen Huu Quan, a chili grower in Thanh Khiet village.

According to calculations, the cost of planting a sao of chili (500m2) including care and fertilizer is about 5 million VND, and hiring workers to harvest each day costs 200 - 250,000 VND/person. Each worker can only pick about 30kg per day at most.

On average, each sao yields about 900 kg to 1 ton of chili. The price of chili must be around 15,000 VND/kg for farmers to cover all costs and pay the pickers. To make a profit, the price of chili must fluctuate between 25,000 - 30,000 VND/kg.

After harvesting, chili peppers are purchased by warehouses to be processed, classified, and packaged for consumption. According to some chili purchasing facilities in Nghia Ha commune, for a long time, the main market for chili peppers has been exporting to China and is almost entirely dependent on this market.

Every year when the Chinese market has strong demand, the price of chili increases dramatically. On the contrary, when China “turns its back”, chili farmers in Quang Ngai suffer heavy losses.

People in Nghia Ha commune, Quang Ngai city harvest chili. Photo: Van Ha.

Most recently, last year, the entire Quang Ngai province planted more than 1,400 hectares of chili, concentrated in localities such as Binh Duong and Binh Minh communes (Binh Son district); Nghia Dung and Nghia Ha (Quang Ngai city)... However, the price of chili at the beginning of the season dropped dramatically, to only 9,000 - 10,000 VND/kg, even staying below 5,000 VND for a long time, causing many people to suffer heavy losses.

To sell chili to farmers, some traders buy fresh chili and freeze it, waiting for the Chinese market to increase consumption again and looking for new markets such as Korea and Japan. However, new markets require high product quality, strict inspection processes and much lower consumption than the Chinese market.

To avoid the situation of "good harvest, low price; good price, bad harvest", supply exceeding demand, for many years, local authorities and functional agencies of Quang Ngai have advised people not to increase acreage and massively plant chili peppers to follow the price.

Source: https://nongnghiep.vn/phap-phong-gia-ot-d747350.html