In Ho Chi Minh City, staff at Mr. Chu Van Minh’s fruit store also had to refuse many customers ordering Thai ruby grapefruits because they were “out of stock”.
He said that the red-fleshed ruby grapefruit the store is selling originates from Nakhon Si Thammarat province in Southern Thailand. Grapefruit weighs 1-2kg/fruit. He imports grade 1 goods weighing from 1.8-2kg/fruit mainly to serve the needs of buying as gifts and worshiping during Tet. Therefore, the selling price is also more expensive than smaller grapefruits.
Ruby grapefruit costs 400,000 VND/fruit and is still popular with buyers (Photo: NVCC)
Previously, he planned to import 5,000 fruits to sell during the Tet season. However, by December 18, it was sold out. This is the reason why store staff constantly have to refuse customers ordering ruby grapefruits.
According to Mr. Minh, in our country many gardeners also grow ruby grapefruit. The price of Vietnamese grapefruit is 1/4 cheaper, but customers are not interested because the quality and design of Thai ruby grapefruit are much better than Vietnamese products.
“I just imported 1,000 more Thai ruby grapefruits, the goods will arrive tomorrow,” he shared. However, Mr. Minh expects that these grapefruits will only sell in a few days. However, this is also the last batch, he did not import more because he planned to focus on selling Vietnamese fruits close to Tet to display the five-fruit tray.
In fact, in our country grapefruit is the main fruit crop, with an output of more than 1 million tons/year. Among them, green grapefruit, Dien grapefruit, red grapefruit, and Nam Roi grapefruit are popular grapefruit varieties with large yields. Ruby grapefruit has just been experimentally planted by gardeners. The yield is quite modest and the quality is not stable.
On the Tet market, the price of Vietnamese grapefruit is quite cheap. For example, green-skinned grapefruit costs from 25,000-40,000 VND/fruit depending on the type; Dien grapefruit costs 15,000-50,000 VND/fruit, Tan Lac red grapefruit prices range from 15,000-20,000 VND/fruit; Ruby grapefruit costs 20,000-50,000 VND/fruit…
Currently, grapefruit is entering its peak consumption during the Tet season. This is one of the fruits that many families choose to display on the five-fruit tray for Tet.