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Tag: Dak Lak

  • Vietnam Fruit Traders Pay 5% Finder Fee for Scarce Musang King Durian

    Vietnam Fruit Traders Pay 5% Finder Fee for Scarce Musang King Durian

    Vietnamese fruit brokers are offering commissions of up to VND6,000 per kilogram to spotters who can locate harvest-ready Musang King durian orchards across the country.

    The sourcing fee represents nearly 5 percent of the fruit’s farm-gate price of VND130,000 ($4.95) per kilogram, triple the standard VND2,000 fee paid for common domestic cultivars like Ri6.

    Sourcing Brokers Battle Supermarket Buyers

    Mekong Delta trader Manh Khuong pays spotters VND6,000 per kilogram to secure volume across orchards in Dong Thap and Vinh Long provinces. Most growers told him their trees require at least 10 more days before harvesting can begin.

    Procurement friction has intensified because supermarket chains and specialty fruit retailers from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City bypass regional intermediaries entirely. Retail purchasing teams now send buyers directly to farm gates, bidding up scarce tonnage on the tree.

    Another merchant operating in Dong Thap offers VND5,000 per kilogram in finder fees. Despite the cash incentive, his operation secures only one ton of fruit every two to three days.

    Cultivation Hurdles and Crop Timing

    Musang King originated in Malaysia and requires exacting soil and climate conditions that make it difficult to cultivate in Vietnam. Plantings remain scattered in small pockets across the Mekong Delta and the Central Highlands.

    Dong Thap Durian Association Chairman Vo Tan Loi said the primary harvest cycle in the province concluded two months ago. Most commercial growers in the region have turned to pruning, fertilizing, and preparing their trees for the next crop cycle.

    Central Highlands orchards offer limited off-season availability, but weather disruptions have hit yields. Dak Lak-based trader Hang collects roughly 500 kilograms a day from smallholder plots, down from seven to 10 tons daily during the August peak, with poor weather causing quality defects in five to 10 percent of the fruit.

    Export Demand Squeezes Regional Inventory

    The domestic scramble coincides with a seasonal supply void across Southeast Asia. Malaysia has concluded its primary harvest, leaving Chinese importers looking to Vietnamese packing houses to fill distribution pipelines.

    Vietnam durian shipments to China surged 62 percent year-on-year to $956 million in August, according to customs data. That export pull lifted farm-gate rates across all major commercial varieties between August and mid-September.

    Ri6 durian traded up to VND70,000 per kilogram, Monthong reached VND90,000, Musang King climbed to VND130,000, and Black Thorn commanded VND150,000 at the farm gate. In Ho Chi Minh City wholesale channels, distributors priced Musang King to city retailers at VND140,000 per kilogram.

    Price Floor to Hold Through Late October

    For cross-border traders and urban food retailers, the margin squeeze will persist until secondary off-season harvests begin late in October. Exporters operating on fixed forward contracts with mainland Chinese buyers must either absorb finder commissions or risk defaulting on delivery schedules.

    Vietnamese agricultural authorities are working through trade clearance procedures to push total durian export revenue to between $3.85 billion and $4 billion for the full calendar year. Packing houses in Dak Lak and Dong Thap are watching the late-October harvest turn to determine whether volume can meet those targets before winter trade slowdowns take hold.

  • Dak Lak to shift coffee strategy

    Dak Lak to shift coffee strategy

    The Central Highlands province of Dak Lak plans to increase the proportion of processed coffee such as instant coffee and powdered coffee from less than 10 per cent to 15 per cent in total coffee output by 2020 and up to 30 per cent by 2030.

    Pham Ngoc Nghi, chairman of the province’s People’s Committee, said the province’s policies were being adjusted to attract more domestic and foreign enterprises to invest in coffee processing.

    He said that most locally based processing companies were private firms whose market access and product advertising capacity were modest.

    Dak Lak, which has the largest coffee area and output in Viet Nam, has more than 200,000ha and an annual coffee bean output of 450,000 tonnes.

    However, the province only has 145 coffee processing facilities with a total capacity of 32,100 tonnes, accounting for 5.55 per cent of the province’s total coffee bean output.

    To achieve the targets, the province has created a more favourable investment environment for both domestic and foreign enterprises, particularly those specialising in roasting and grinding, to invest in processing factories.

    The province has also helped coffee enterprises improve their corporate governance, promoted the use of advanced post-harvest and processing techniques and expanded market access for local companies.

    Coffee farmers, producers and businesses are being encouraged to produce beans that can be certified by the coffee global certification programme (UTZ), the fair-trade labelling organisation (FLO), Rainforest Alliance (RFA) and 4C (Common Code for the Coffee Community).

    The province, which has helped organisations, enterprises and co-operatives build brands, has offered assistance to companies to acquire rights to the geographical indication for processed coffee products.

    Last year, Dak Lak produced 28,000 tonnes of processed coffee, including 23,000 tonnes of powdered coffee and 5,000 tonnes of instant coffee.

    It exported 4,520 tonnes of instant coffee worth nearly US$ 27 million, accounting for 7.5 per cent of the province’s coffee export revenue.

    In the 2016-17 coffee season, Dak Lak estimates it will export 230,000 tonnes of coffee to 75 countries and territories.

    Export potential

    Viet Nam’s processed coffee exports are predicted to increase in the coming years due to more investment from domestic and foreign enterprises, according to experts.

    Many coffee companies, including Trung Nguyen, Me Trang and Vinacafe, for instance, are expanding the scale of their production.

    In addition, Viet Nam’s free trade agreements with the EU, Europe-Asian Economic Union and the Republic of Korea will create opportunities to boost Viet Nam’s processed coffee exports.

    Under free trade agreements, exports of Viet Nam’s processed coffee are taxed at only 0-5 per cent compared to 15 -20 per cent in the past.

    The country’s coffee industry is raising the value of coffee beans by speeding up the processing of powdered and instant coffee and other products.

    Processed coffee products from Viet Nam are sold in many international markets.

    The G7 instant coffee of Trung Nguyen, for example, has passed the requirements of Walmart Stores, Inc and is now sold at Walmart stores in many countries such as Chile, Brazil, Mexico and China.

    Luong Van Tu, chairman of the Viet Nam Coffee and Cocoa Association, said China was one of the most important markets for Viet Nam’s processed coffee.

    Coffee consumption in China is rising rapidly, particularly among younger consumers exposed to Western coffee drinking habits, he said.

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