Vietnam Seedless Lychee Prices Double to $30/kg as Bad Weather Hits Harvest

Retail prices for seedless lychees in Ho Chi Minh City have almost doubled year-on-year to approximately VND800,000 (US$30.4) per kilogram, as adverse weather conditions have severely curtailed the annual harvest.

The price surge reflects an acute supply shortage that has left both traders and consumers struggling. "This is the most expensive and rarest seedless lychee season ever," said Tran Thi Ngoc Chau, a fruit trader in HCMC who has found sourcing the product exceptionally difficult this year. Despite the high prices, she noted that strong early demand from customers could not be met. Another trader, Hoang Oanh, reported having to cancel numerous pre-orders after orchards announced crop failures just before the harvest.

The scarcity is felt keenly by consumers. Hoa, a local resident, was unable to purchase five kilograms of the fruit for business gifts, despite contacting three regular suppliers. "I asked three stores that used to sell seedless lychees, but they said they could not source any," she said, ultimately having to choose an alternative fruit.

The crop failure is widespread across Vietnam’s 55,000 hectares of lychee cultivation, which are concentrated in the country's northern provinces. The Plant Production and Protection Department attributed the losses to unfavorable weather that disrupted flower bud differentiation, flowering, and fruit setting. Output in several key growing regions has fallen sharply, with some areas reporting declines of more than 50% from the previous year.

Ho Guom – Song Am Company, the sole commercial cultivator of the fruit since 2023, has also been heavily impacted. Bui Duc Thuy, the company's deputy director, explained that extreme weather has devastated many northern lychee-growing areas, with some losing up to 90% of their crop.

At the company's own growing area in the central province of Thanh Hoa, the initial flowering rate was a mere 27%. A subsequent period of prolonged heat followed by thunderstorms caused a large-scale shedding of young fruits. Consequently, Ho Guom – Song Am’s output plummeted to just one ton this year, a fraction of the seven tons harvested last year. Other regions, such as Bac Ninh Province, have attempted to grow the fruit without significant success.

This supply crunch has driven wholesale prices to over VND600,000 per kilogram, double the VND310,000 recorded in the same period last year. Thuy confirmed the harvest was too small for the company to fulfill its pre-season orders and advised consumers to be cautious of products being marketed as seedless lychees.