The dragon fruit farming area in China has increased by 10 times over the last few years. With this dragon fruit acreage increasing rapidly, China has become nearly self-sufficient as far as dragon fruit goes. This poses a great challenge to Vietnam, a major dragon fruit producer which targets China as the major market.
In 2021, China had 67,000 hectares of dragon fruit which gave total output of 1.6 million tons. About 70 percent of Chinese dragon fruit is grown in Guangxi and Guangdong. From 2016 to 2020, China’s dragon fruit yield increased from 1.24 tons to 1.54 tons per 667 sqm thanks to a growing area increase and technology application.
With an output of 1.4 million tons, Vietnamese dragon fruit is for both domestic consumption and export, bringing billions of dollars a year. China is the major export market which consumes 80-90 percent of Vietnam’s total export value of dragon fruit.
In late 2018, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) warned that China planned to develop 20,000 hectares of dragon fruit growing area in Guangxi and Hainan Island which would affect Vietnam’s dragon fruit exports. The country also decided to lease land in Laos and Cambodia to grow dragon fruit.
Source: vietnamnet.vn