In the first months of 2025, durian exports to China recorded a serious decrease, reaching only about 20% of the plan. The information was given at a meeting to listen to a report on the current status of crop code management, traceability and solutions to increase durian export activities held on May 8.
The consequences not only affect the general target of the whole industry but also reduce domestic durian prices, only by a quarter compared to export prices.
In the context of many fluctuations in the export market, Mr. Tran Van Chien - Director of Truong Khuong A Fruit Garden Cooperative (Phong Dien District, Can Tho City) - said that this is a lesson for farmers to realize the importance of food quality and safety in producing durian and other agricultural products.
In addition to farming according to food safety standards, members of the cooperative all carry out reasonable production processes, avoiding abuse of agricultural materials. Thereby, contributing to reducing production costs as well as avoiding affecting the quality of durian, said Mr. Chien.
In the face of fluctuations in market prices, Mr. Nguyen Dac Hung - Director of the Fruit Production Cooperative of Nhon Tho 1A Hamlet (Phong Dien District, Can Tho City) - said that what farmers need to pay attention to is the quality of durian.
"Durian prices have increased and decreased due to market impact, farmers cannot control. The important thing we need to do is to produce well, ensure food quality and safety. If durian meets the standards and is purchased by the company at 50,000 - 51,000 VND/kg for Ri6 type A, farmers will still make a profit, said Mr. Hung.
With about 7,000 hectares of durian growing area in the area, Mr. Tran Thai Nghiem - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Can Tho City - informed that market fluctuations depend on supply and demand, almost not affected by production costs. In case the market price is good, farmers are willing to invest high costs to create many product units with the hope that the profit margin on each product will compensate well.
"When production standards are not guaranteed, people apply many processing methods using cam ung to increase production costs. This is one of the reasons for unsustainable durian production, said Mr. Nghiem.
Currently, the city has many production areas, farmers apply good technical processes, the cost of durian production alone is only about 12,000 - 15,000 VND/kg. This is a relatively reasonable price for the durian industry.
According to Mr. Nghiem, the reduction of production costs to a reasonable level is a general problem that needs to be based on many facilities. The immediate problem must be concerned about not abuse, no redundancy, no waste of fertilizer, plant protection drugs to reduce costs. This is closely related to farmers grasping the techniques in the production process.
To reduce costs but increase durian output, farmers must increase productivity. The key issue is that people need to have a firm grasp of farming, care and management techniques. At the same time, pay attention to investing in more automatic irrigation systems to reduce labor costs as well as using agricultural fertilizer byproducts to increase the life of the plants, said Mr. Nghiem.
