Traders pay generously for off-season durian

The Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang has been seeing many workers going in and out of farms to transport durian to factories as traders seek to buy as many as they can.

Trader Phan Minh Quan now offers farmers VND135,000 ($5.55) per kilogram and he buys up to five tons each day. He and other traders even hire local people to find new farms to make offers.

Farmer Nguyen Van Linh has 4,000 square meters of Monthong durian, which he has been growing for eight years. He is being offered VND130,000 per kilogram, nearly double year-on-year, for eight tons of durian.

"We are set to profit by VND900 million from this season," Linh said.

Some traders even offer to pay VND145,000 for a kilogram, an unprecedented level.

The reason for the high prices is the off-season and only farmers who changed their farming strategy years ago to off-season can sell the fruit now.

Growing off-season requires complex techniques to deal with unfavorable weather conditions but farmers can get bigger profits from selling them during a low-supply period.

"There is a shortage of supply as durians are set to run out in about a month," said Vo Van Men, head of Tien Giang horticulture department.

Tien Giang has nearly 18,000 hectares of durian, and 2,600 hectares have been approved for origin tracing.