Chinese lychees have created a frenzy at Vietnamese markets, while Mongzi wax plums are selling like hotcakes despite their steep prices - even as Vietnam is also harvesting hundreds of thousands of tons of similar fruits domestically.

Besides lychees and wax plums, a wide range of Chinese fruits are now widely available across Vietnam's markets.

Chu Thi Hai, a wholesale and retail fruit supplier in Cau Giay (Hanoi), explained that Chinese fruits are typically imported seasonally. Alongside domestic produce, she regularly sells Chinese varieties such as crow-beak peaches, green plums, Wenzhou oranges, milk pears, apples, red grapes, milk grapes, and yellow melons.

“This year, prices for Chinese fruits are relatively high,” Hai noted. Retail prices are currently around 1 USD/kg for green plums, 1.20 USD/kg for Wenzhou oranges, 2 USD/kg for seeded red grapes, 1.80 USD/kg for crow-beak peaches, 1.20 USD/kg for premium milk pears, 2 USD/kg for red apples, and 1.20 USD/kg for yellow melons.

She added that wholesale prices for distributors are typically half of retail rates.

“Although Chinese fruits are more expensive than local ones at the moment, they still sell well,” Hai said. “That's because many of these fruits are either not grown in Vietnam or are produced in limited quantities.”

In the premium segment, Dinh Thi Hoa, owner of a fruit store in Dinh Cong (Hanoi), shared that her shop has recently imported large volumes of Beijing peaches, milk grapes, wax plums, and red dates. Prices for these range between 5.10 USD and 13.70 USD per kilogram.

“These prices are comparable to fruits imported from the US or Australia,” she said. Nonetheless, certain Chinese fruits still enjoy strong demand. For instance, wax plums are currently the most expensive Chinese fruit on the Vietnamese market, yet she still manages to sell around 50–70 kg daily.

Similarly, early-season milk grapes are priced at 13.30 USD per 2 kg box, and Hoa sold out a 250-box shipment in just three days. Red dates, priced at 10 USD per 1.5 kg box, are also selling well, with some customers purchasing multiple boxes at a time, leading to daily sales of over 100 kg.

According to Hoa, early-season Chinese fruits are typically expensive. Prices drop sharply during the main harvest season when imports increase. Last year, milk grapes from China dropped to 1.20–2 USD per kilogram, while red dates fell to 2.40–3.20 USD.

Data from the General Department of Customs shows that in the first six months of this year, Vietnam’s fruit and vegetable imports from China totaled 402 million USD, slightly up from 397 million USD in the same period of 2024.

Chinese produce accounted for 33.5% of Vietnam’s total fruit and vegetable import value during the first half of the year, making China the country’s largest produce supplier so far.

Tam An