The "just enough to spend" fruit tray is popular
Walking around the markets in Ho Chi Minh City in the days leading up to Lunar New Year 2024, the fruits in the five-fruit trays representing the wish for a prosperous and abundant life are being sold bustlingly. Custard apples, coconuts, papayas, mangoes, pineapples, figs, and surplus fruits... with the meaning "Wishing for enough to use the fragrance" or "Wishing for enough to use the figs" are chosen by many people.
Surplus fruit - once a "unique" item in the Tet fruit tray - is sold for 10,000 VND/large fruit, 5,000 VND/small fruit. This type of fruit is inedible, only used for offerings, symbolizing prosperity, is bright yellow, shiny, and has many flower-shaped ears.
Also used for offerings, coconuts as big as a fist cost about 15,000-20,000 VND/fruit. This type is more popular than large coconuts because of its beautiful light green color and moderate size, suitable for displaying on the altar.
Coconut, pineapple, custard apple... attract customers during Tet (Photo: Khong Chiem).
For custard apples, markets sell two types of fruit at different prices. Large custard apples, weighing 2kg or more, cost about 70,000-80,000 VND/kg; small ones, under 1kg, are only for offerings and cannot be eaten, cost about 100,000-120,000 VND/kg. Vendors explain that the price of the offerings is more expensive because the garden owner picks them young and accepts to sell the small ones to meet demand.
Pineapples are also sold mainly for worship purposes, with prices ranging from 50,000 to 100,000 VND/fruit depending on size. Unlike the usual type, pineapples for worship are bright red and have many young shoots, symbolizing fertility and strong growth.
Many other fruits are not too expensive compared to normal days, even the same price. Watermelon is about 15,000-20,000 VND/kg, papaya is 20,000-25,000 VND/kg, dragon fruit is 25,000-35,000 VND/kg...
Ms. Lan, the owner of a fruit stall at Do Dac market (Thu Duc city), admitted that like every year, before Tet, fruit prices can increase by 10-20% compared to normal days, but this year it is quite stable. The supply from gardens in the West is abundant, so goods arrive at the market regularly, making it easy for small traders like her to import goods. Purchasing power after the 23rd day of the lunar calendar is not too sudden, she hopes that on the 28th and 29th of Tet, when all families buy trays of five fruits for Tet offerings, goods will "sell" better.
Five-fruit tray delivery service attracts customers
Some people, worried about the crowded Tet market, have chosen to buy fruit trays from fruit shops and have them delivered to their homes. Fruit shops have also taken advantage of this opportunity to get more orders and deliver them before Tet 30.
Mr. Hoa, the owner of a fruit shop in District 6, is selling 7 types of fruit for Tet including pineapple, coconut, mango, custard apple, papaya, fig and melon, 1 fruit of each type for 165,000 VND. After just one evening, he received 170 orders from neighboring districts and buyers are willing to pay the shipping fee of intermediary shipping units. Mr. Hoa said that since the 23rd of the lunar calendar, he has sold hundreds of fruit orders every day, depending on the needs of customers.
Fruit shops that advertise themselves as selling high-quality, qualified products offer higher prices, from 400,000 VND to millions of VND per fruit tray. The fruits on display are more diverse, including pineapple, Buddha's hand, dragon fruit, custard apple, apple, pineapple, dragon melon... and may also include imported black grapes and imported pears.
In addition, many types of shaped fruits are also popular during this Tet holiday, to display on the altar to pray for luck and peace. Long Phung pineapples are sold for 85,000-100,000 VND/fruit, watermelons engraved with the words Tai Loc or Chuc Mung Tan, Van su nhu y are priced at 85,000 VND/kg, twice the normal price. Coconuts engraved with the words Tai Loc or Van su nhu y are also expensive, about 650,000 VND/pair. In particular, grapefruits shaped like gold bars engraved with the words Tai Loc are priced at more than 1.5 million VND/pair...
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