Loofah fiber goes to the West for an incredibly high price

Handmade loofah products are hung in front of Ms. Hop's stall in Tan Dinh market - Photo: AN VI

Visiting markets, it is not difficult to see loofahs strung together by vendors and hung on stalls. Or when typing the keyword “loofah” on e-commerce platforms, this product will appear in many funny shapes with high value.

From the free

Go to Nghia Trung commune (Bu Dang district, Binh Phuoc), where loofah has been associated with the lifestyle of the Stieng people since time immemorial. They use loofah as a back scratcher, pot scrubber, pot holder, and most of all, it becomes a "treasure" for scrubbing very gently when bathing.

Dried squash can be kept for as long as it is not peeled, as long as it is kept away from moisture and fire. When using, just peel off the skin and seeds, soak in water overnight to soften and it will become a versatile product.

Loofah has a very interesting texture, when dry the skin sticks tightly, difficult to peel. Inside there are many seeds, the fiber is extremely rough. But after processing, dipping in water, it becomes surprisingly soft.

Ms. Dieu Thi Lai (43 years old, living in Bu Dang district, Binh Phuoc) said that compared to the plastic dishwashing sponges or bath sponges that she usually buys, loofahs last much longer. "After using them, I just wring them out, they dry and become hard, and I can use them for half a year without having to change them without losing their color," Ms. Lai praised.

In Ms. Lai’s house, loofahs are hung on the floor. Before using them, she dips them in a basin and squeezes them a few times to absorb water and soap. This natural item cleans and bathes just as well as the colorful bath sponges in the supermarket.

Despite its versatility and durability, according to Ms. Lai, loofah here is not a precious product. People give it to each other to use, and if there is too much to use, they have to throw it away. “Households here often spread loofah seeds to get the fruit to cook soup. If it is old, they wait for it to dry and store it to clean pots or for bathing. Sometimes there are too many fruits and they just let them wither on the vine,” Ms. Lai said.

Mr. Tien's dried squash garden exports about 500kg of dried squash each crop - Photo: AN VI

Most of them are foreign tourists, they pass by and ask me out of curiosity, seeing that it has many uses and is environmentally friendly, they buy it right away. Each group buys from a few to a dozen, sometimes they sell out within a week of receiving the goods. Ms. Luu Thi Kim Hop, said.

Loofah on handmade stalls

Some people can't use it all, some can't find it, that's the situation of Ms. Truong Thi Anh Hong (50 years old, living in Tan Binh district, Ho Chi Minh City). Ms. Hong has been selling loofah for nearly ten years in big markets in Ho Chi Minh City.

According to her, the amount of loofah she sold at first was only a few dozen pieces, now it has increased to hundreds, there were times when many people ordered and had to hire a truck to have enough to deliver to the customers.

Previously, she mainly collected loofah fibers from her acquaintances in Long An to sell. After preliminary processing, the wholesale price ranged from 15,000 to 20,000 VND/piece. This product has been popular for about 5 years now, but the quantity was not enough to meet the demand, so she started to go to Long Khanh (Dong Nai), Can Duoc (Long An) and many provinces in the West to buy more loofah fibers.

“Finding a place to buy loofah is also very difficult, most households only grow a few vines, and if they grow a lot, they only want to sell fresh fruit. Few people dare to wait for it to dry to sell the fiber because it is unfamiliar to them. Not to mention, if the loofah is left to dry into fiber, it means that the vine will not produce any more fruit, so farmers rarely dare to sell this type of fruit,” Ms. Hong explained.

Holding the loofahs, the woman carefully introduced the loofahs that were over 25cm long, had thick fibers, and were large, long blocks that were classified as the best. The loofahs under 25cm, with thin fibers, were usually classified as the second best with a lower price. As for the ones that were deformed during transportation or discolored due to being stored for a long time, Ms. Hong discarded them because the customers would not accept them.

Following Ms. Hong to deliver more than 50 loofahs to a familiar customer in Tan Dinh market (District 1), as soon as she entered the market, she went straight to stall number 666 owned by Ms. Luu Thi Kim Hop (34 years old, residing in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City).

Seeing Ms. Hong carrying only a few dozen loofahs, the stall owner shook her head in disappointment, “Why is there so little?” Ms. Hong explained that the dry season had just passed, so the source of loofahs was low and there were many customers, so now there was only this much left. After a quick check, Ms. Hop threaded a string between the loofahs and hung them right at the top of the stall.

Loofah fiber is produced into many types of household items for export - Photo: AN VI

And export to Japan, Korea...

More than half a month ago, Ms. Hop had sold out nearly 50 loofahs. Two groups of foreign tourists visiting the market bought more than half of them to try.

Needless to say, sitting and chatting with Ms. Hop, I saw ten Western men passing by, eight of them standing around looking and touching the loofah that the stall owner displayed. "It's great to have a little girl here to help, she knows English, after standing and explaining to them for a while, they will definitely be curious and buy some to try", Ms. Hop giggled.

The number of loofahs shipped abroad is not just twenty, I went to the garden of Mr. Nguyen Van Tien (34 years old, living in Chon Thanh town, Binh Phuoc province) - the place that supplies about 500kg of dried loofahs each season to be exported abroad.

The squash trellis looks lifeless and “abandoned”, but in reality, Mr. Tien’s garden always has three workers weeding, fertilizing, and checking the fruit continuously. It can be said that planting and waiting for the squash to dry like that is more difficult than selling fresh fruit.

Currently, Mr. Tien's garden is cooperating with a partner in Gia Lai. His 3 hectares of squash will provide raw materials all year round for processing and shaping into export products such as bath sponges, dishwashing sponges, shoe insoles, etc.

According to Mr. Tien, the market that is most popular with this product is Korea. “Over there, people like to use handmade household products, especially from natural materials like loofah. At first, they only bought a few because they found it strange, but now they order several hundred kilos at a time,” Mr. Tien added.

Besides Korea, Mr. Tien's loofah is also exported to Japan, the US and some European countries - markets with very strict regulations, especially regarding residues of fertilizers and chemicals used in the care process.

Regarding income, the man said that each crop brings in a profit of about 25-30 million VND/ha. On average, each year if the purchasing partner is regular, he earns about 300 million VND from 3ha of squash.

Nguyen Hoang Long, the owner of a loofah processing facility in Cu Chi District (HCMC), said that he has started having foreign partners for the past two years. His facility has created many products from loofah, notably a line of bath sponges exported to Japan and South Korea. The products have also achieved 3-star and 4-star OCOP certification.

In addition to orders placed by partners, many Western customers find Mr. Long's products through fanpages and e-commerce platforms. He said that in the near future, he will step up online promotion and find more big partners so that loofah can go further.

The squash is no longer ridiculed as “poor as a squash” but is opening up many potentials to enrich farmers…

“On average, the products range from 30,000 to 60,000 VND. When going abroad, I invest in bilingual packaging and sell each product for 3-5 USD,” said Nguyen Hoang Long happily.

He added that at first he only received preliminary processing to supply to some spa facilities in the city, but now he supplies 3,000 - 5,000 products abroad each month, of which more than half go to Korea and Europe.

On average, each year his factory exports 3-5 orders to foreign markets with a value of 30,000 - 40,000 USD/order.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/xo-muop-di-tay-gia-cao-khong-tuong-20240804222149682.htm