For many years, China has been buying areca nuts from Vietnamese farmers at cheap prices, sometimes even for only a few thousand VND per kilogram. This fruit is produced into areca candy, sold in Vietnamese markets for 3.3 million VND/kg.
These days, areca nuts are as expensive as gold, areca nuts have reached record prices, areca nuts have plummeted,... becoming "hot" keywords, because China has been increasing purchases to use as raw materials for production, then stopped "buying goods".
In our country, the areca tree is quite familiar to people. However, the market for this fruit is quite narrow. Because, they are only used in weddings, betel chewing customs, and are the fruit bought to burn incense during Tet holidays.
Therefore, in addition to a small amount consumed in the domestic market, a large amount of areca nuts are exported. Some provinces in our country such as Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Thanh Hoa... have quite large areca nut growing areas for export.
The main customers of Vietnamese farmers' areca nuts are Chinese. In this country of a billion people, areca nuts are used as a precious medicine. In Oriental medicine, areca nuts are used to treat a number of diseases related to the digestive system, prevent anemia, and treat skin allergies...
In addition, young areca nuts are also used to make candy. This candy is very popular in China, especially in cold regions, because it has the effect of preventing sore throat and keeping the body warm.
Therefore, for many years now, China has become a major customer buying Vietnamese areca nuts. However, price of areca nut quite unstable. There were times when the price of this fresh fruit jumped to 60,000-90,000 VND/kg. Otherwise, most areca nuts are purchased at quite cheap prices, even super cheap.
For example, at this time in 2022, the price of areca nuts skyrocketed to 60,000 VND/kg but then dropped to 3,000-4,000 VND/kg. Last year, fresh areca nuts were only purchased at 5,000-7,000 VND/kg, the highest price was 20,000 VND/kg.
In recent days, the price of areca nuts has increased from 40,000 VND/kg to 80,000-90,000 VND/kg. However, this price only held for a few days and then plummeted.
Currently, fresh areca nuts cost around 60,000 VND/kg. However, the drying kilns are quite cautious in purchasing, some even stopped purchasing, so the price of this item plummeted. The reason is that the Chinese partners have collected enough raw materials for production.
Notably, the Chinese buy areca nuts from Vietnam at cheap prices to produce areca candy. Then, these items are imported by wholesalers and sold at Vietnamese markets at very expensive prices.
For example, on e-commerce platforms, Chinese areca nuts are sold everywhere with common prices ranging from 60,000-200,000 VND/package, depending on weight and brand. If calculated by weight, 1kg of areca nuts costs about 3-3.3 million VND depending on the type.
Accordingly, areca candy is introduced as a favorite snack of Chinese people. The candy is made from areca, has a sweet taste similar to ginger candy. The candy has the effect of preventing sore throat and keeping the body warm. However, the seller also notes that you should not swallow the candy residue after chewing. For those who eat areca candy for the first time, they may experience hot flashes, sweating, dizziness, and even chest pain...
This type of areca candy is only used a lot in cold weather. However, the number of orders on e-commerce sites is quite high.
Mr. Nguyen Van Quang, a wholesaler of Chinese areca candy, said that the candy is quite picky because of its high price. However, each month, the amount of candy he sells to wholesale and retail customers is up to thousands of packs.
He sells a 118 gram pack of areca candy for 385,000 VND. That means 1kg of this type of areca candy costs about 3.3 million VND. The price is very expensive compared to the price of fresh areca in our country, he shared.
According to Mr. Quang, each year he only imports areca nuts to sell from 9 months to the second lunar month of the following year. The colder the weather, the more areca nuts sell because many people buy them to keep their bodies warm. In other seasons, when the weather is warm or hot, areca nuts are almost unsaleable.
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