Right from the 4th day of Lunar New Year 2026, the atmosphere in the star apple specialized farming area at Loc Mai Agricultural Cooperative (An Lac Thon commune, Can Tho city) has become bustling again. Farmers are busy going to the gardens to harvest, sort, and package to meet the export orders at the beginning of the year, opening a crop season that is assessed to have many positive signs.
Mr. Su Quoc Loc - Director of the Cooperative - said that from the beginning of the season to now, the unit has linked businesses to consume more than 100 tons of star apples for export. The purchase price at the beginning of the season reached about 45,000 VND/kg, currently fluctuating around 35,000 VND/kg.
Although the price decreased compared to the previous period, thanks to maintaining stable consumption linkages for many years, the income of cooperative members is still guaranteed. On average, each hectare of star apple brings a profit of 200-300 million VND, significantly higher than the period before participating in the export chain. This year, the yield is estimated to reach 20-35 tons/ha, an increase of about 5 tons/ha compared to previous years.
Mr. Loc said that this year's crop season is expected to last until the end of May of the lunar calendar, while in previous years it usually ended around April of the lunar calendar thanks to the application of flower flowering treatment techniques and proactive crop rotation.
According to him, adjusting the crop schedule helps products still have goods on the market right in the period of scarcity, around May-June of the lunar calendar, when supply in many localities decreases sharply. Thanks to that, the average selling price has been significantly improved, and profits have increased by about 180 million VND/ha compared to traditional production methods.
Extending harvest time also helps reduce labor pressure during peak periods, limit seasonal labor shortages and contribute to reducing production costs," Mr. Loc said.
Meanwhile, at Xom Dong 2 Agricultural Cooperative (Thoi An Hoi commune, Can Tho city), the production atmosphere is also no less vibrant. After completing export orders before Tet, the unit is considering receiving new orders because export prices are not really attractive.
Mr. Tran Van Phuong - Director of the Cooperative - said that the current export purchase price is about 40,000 VND/kg for purple star apple and 45,000 VND/kg for pink butter. Therefore, the Cooperative temporarily prioritizes the domestic market, where the selling price fluctuates from 50,000-55,000 VND/kg.
Every day, the cooperative supplies 4-5 tons of star apples to the market, mainly distributed to supermarket systems and fruit stores in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. Flexible redirection between export and domestic helps gardeners be proactive in output, avoiding dependence on a single market.
Mr. Phuong added that from the beginning of the season to now, the Cooperative has purchased and consumed about 400 tons of star apples, serving both the export and domestic markets. The Cooperative is investing in developing about 7ha of purple star apples for export. This variety has the advantage of thick skin, dark color when carefully wrapped, good preservation ability, and can maintain quality for 5-7 days after harvest if treated according to the correct process.
Although this year the price is not as good as last year, with proactive crop rotation, quality assurance and market expansion, people still have stable incomes," Mr. Phuong shared.
According to the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Can Tho City, the whole city currently has more than 102,000 hectares of fruit trees, with an annual output of over 1.1 million tons. The area of star apple cultivation alone is more than 3,100 hectares, producing about 40,000 tons/year. To date, functional sectors have issued 37 star apple growing area codes with a total area of 329.3 hectares.
