Australian dragon litchi costs over a million VND per kilo during Tet

In the current market, there are not only traditional Australian lychees with small sizes, but stores also import dragon lychees from this country which are 2-3 times larger than normal fruit. The selling price is 5 times higher than the main season grade 1 lychees of Vietnam, ranging from 800,000 VND to 1.4 million VND per kg. In Australia, the price of one kg of dragon lychees is about 750,000-900,000 VND.

Traders said this is the second year this fruit has been imported to Vietnam for sale during the Lunar New Year. Despite its high price, dragon lychee is still sought after by many people as a high-end gift during this occasion. The highlight of this fruit is its large size, beautiful appearance, sweet and aromatic flavor, not sour, thin skin, creating a completely different feeling compared to other types of lychee on the market.

Lychee has long been one of Vietnam's famous agricultural exports, contributing a large amount of revenue from the international market. However, the domestic lychee season usually only lasts from April to July, leading to a shortage of supply during the Lunar New Year. Meanwhile, in Australia, the summer from December to February (coinciding with the Lunar New Year) is the lychee harvest season of this country.

However, dragon lychee is limited in quantity and expensive. The reason, according to Ms. Nguyen Thu Trinh, who lives in Australia and is a food supplier to Vietnam, is that this fruit is rarely grown here because the harvest season is short, only a few weeks. The fruit selection process is meticulous, from cutting the stem, storing in cold boxes to transporting by air, causing the cost of the product to increase. Each shipment to Vietnam usually has only a few dozen boxes, each box weighs 5 kg.

Mr. Phuc, an imported fruit shop owner in Ho Chi Minh City, shares the same opinion, saying that each time he can only import 5-10 boxes because he has no source of goods.

"The lychee is almost as big as the palm of your hand, with a bright red, thin skin, thick flesh, sweet and characteristically fragrant," Mr. Phuc described.

In Binh Duong, Ms. Thanh, another shop owner, also said that demand for Australian dragon fruit is increasing. Last year, many customers only bought one kilogram to try, but now they order a whole 5-kg box to give to partners. According to Ms. Thanh, the price of dragon fruit this year has increased by about 10-15% compared to last year due to the early season and scarcer supply.

Not only lychees, specialty fruits from Australia are also imported to Vietnam at high prices, up to millions of VND per kilogram, but are still favored by Vietnamese customers thanks to their quality and uniqueness.

According to customs data, in the first 11 months of 2024, Vietnam spent 143 million USD importing Australian fruits and vegetables, an increase of nearly 5% over the same period in 2023. Australia is the third largest market in Vietnam's fruit and vegetable import turnover, after the US and China.