On March 26, Mr. Dang Huu Hung (64 years old, residing in Tan Son village, Thach Xuan commune, Ha Tinh province), the owner of a seedling nursery in Tan Son village, said that currently the acacia and melaleuca seedlings he is selling at the nursery are priced at 2,500 VND/tree, nearly 2 times higher than at the same time in 2025.
According to Mr. Hung, acacia and melaleuca seedlings are imported by him from the North, and the prices there are also high, so he and many other seedling nursery owners are forced to sell them higher to make a profit.
According to Mr. Hung, seedlings are scarce in the North because in 2025 there are many floods and storms, so the area of trees for seedling cultivation is heavily damaged.
Last year, on this occasion, I sold about 400,000 seedlings, but this year I only sold about 70,000 seedlings. The price of seedlings is too high, causing many people with forests to hesitate, not wanting to deploy afforestation because they have to spend a lot of capital," Mr. Hung shared.
In addition to providing seedlings, Mr. Hung's family also hires to plant forests. Currently, the labor cost for planting acacia forests is calculated at 1,000 VND/tree. Mr. Hung estimates that currently to plant 1 ha of acacia forest (about 4,000 trees/ha), forest owners have to spend about 14 million VND - 15 million VND, including both seedling costs and planting labor costs.
Mr. Bui Duc Luc (47 years old, residing in Cam Due commune, Ha Tinh province) said that from the beginning of 2026 to now, his nursery has sold about 150,000 acacia and melaleuca seedlings. Compared to previous years, the number sold is only 20%.
Also according to Mr. Luc, compared to last year, the price of acacia and melaleuca seedlings this year increased by more than 1,000 VND/tree. The reason for the price increase is that the source of seedlings imported from the northern provinces is also scarce, and the import price is also very high.
Mr. Luc said that in 2025, a major storm caused many areas of acacia forest to be broken, causing great damage to forest owners. Therefore, at the beginning of this year, the demand for replanting broken and fallen forests is very large. However, due to the high price of seedlings as well as the current cost of forest planting, some forest owners are also hesitant and hesitant in deploying replanting.
According to an official of the Ha Tinh Forest Protection Department, in the face of the high price of acacia and melaleuca seedlings, the unit has directed the Forest Protection Teams to strengthen inspection and grasp the situation, avoiding the situation of hoarding goods and forcing the price of seedlings to affect people's afforestation activities.
In 2026, Ha Tinh province strives to plant more than 9,900 hectares of concentrated forest, an increase of about 700 hectares compared to 2025. Of which, the spring crop alone accounts for about 45-50% of the area. Therefore, the high price of seedlings has caused difficulties and partly affected people's afforestation activities.
