China is expanding the cultivation of red-fleshed dragon fruit, which sells at lower prices than imports from Vietnam. Last year, it said it grew the fruit on 67,000 hectares and produced 1.6 million tons. According to Chinese news site Produce Report, with July-August being the peak season for the fruit, in Guangxi, the largest producer in the country, dragon fruit prices dropped to record lows.
Red-fleshed dragon fruit is selling at some seven renminbi (nearly US$1) per kilogram and white-fleshed dragon fruit imported from Vietnam at around nine renminbi in Nanning, the capital of Guangxi. The local produce has also flooded markets in other Chinese localities, and mostly costs less than the Vietnamese imports.
OF course, with the jump in domestic production, imports from Vietnam are falling: according to data from China Customs, 206,000 tons had been imported in the first half of this year, mostly from Vietnam, for 1.37 billion renminbi ($187 million), a year-on-year decrease of 50.4% and 42.9% and the lowest levels in nearly a decade.
Source: retailnews.asia