HANOI, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's dragon fruit prices have tripled from a year earlier amid a lower supply and rising demand, local newspaper Vietnam News reported on Wednesday.
Red-fleshed dragon fruit is being sold at around 38,000 Vietnamese dong per kilogram (1.6 U.S. dollars) and white-fleshed at 25,000 Vietnamese dong per kilogram (1.06 dollars).
China is the top destination for Vietnamese dragon fruit. Exports to China account for 90 percent of Vietnam's total dragon fruit shipments, a local trader in Vietnam's central province of Binh Thuan told the newspaper.
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted farming activities, causing the output of dragon fruit down by about 50 percent at one point, said Nguyen Quoc Trinh, chairman of a local dragon fruit association.
As China has optimized its COVID-19 response, the demand for the fruit has been on the rise, strongly pushing prices, Trinh added.
China makes up 60 percent of Vietnam's exports of fruits, according to the data released by the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetable Association.
Vietnam is currently exporting 11 kinds of fruits to China through official channels, including dragon fruit, watermelon, litchi, banana, mango, jackfruit, rambutan, longan, mangosteen, passion fruit and durian.
Vietnam is growing around 1.4 million tons of dragon fruit a year on an area of about 64,000 hectares, mainly in central province of Binh Thuan and two Mekong Delta provinces of Long An and Tien Giang, according to the Department of Crop Production under Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
