The pineapple wholesale price in north-central Vietnam rose to 19 million dong per tonne in August 2026 (about ¥114,000 at 10,000 dong ≈ ¥60), a record level in the growing region. It is the same crop that, just a few months earlier in April and May, had slumped to 5,000 dong per kg (about ¥30). Despite the round trip of collapse and surge within one season, farmers who had signed contracts with the major processor DOVECO (Dong Giao Food Export Joint Stock Company / Cong ty CP Thuc pham xuat khau Dong Giao) were bought out at a floor price even during the downturn and received the benefit during the upturn as well. Seen from the standpoint of sourcing pineapple for Japan, this 'mechanism that absorbs a crash' is exactly the point to read.
Sinking to 5,000 dong per kg in April–May and up to 19,000 dong in August — one season's swing
According to the primary reporting (Nông nghiệp & Môi trường, August 10, 2026), the wholesale price in the region centered on Ninh Binh province moved as follows. Large fruit of 1 kg or more traded at 18,000 to 19,000 dong/kg — that is, 18 million to 19 million dong per tonne — which is said to be a record high. Even small fruit of 300 to 800 g fetched 13,000 to 14,000 dong/kg. Meanwhile, the same region's market had fallen to 5,000 dong/kg in April and May, when harvests overlapped.
| Period and grade | Wholesale price (dong) | Yen conversion (10,000 dong approximately 60 yen) |
|---|---|---|
| April–May 2026, concentrated-shipping period | 5,000 dong/kg | About ¥30/kg |
| August 2026, large fruit (1 kg or more) | 18,000 to 19,000 dong/kg (= 18 million to 19 million dong/tonne) | About ¥108 to ¥114/kg |
| August 2026, small fruit (300 to 800 g) | 13,000 to 14,000 dong/kg | About ¥78 to ¥84/kg |
Lining up the numbers alone, the unit price swung 3.8 times in just three to four months by calculation. It is not an unusual price move for fresh produce, but translated into farmers' take-home pay it is a difference of more than ¥80 per kg. Pineapple's positioning as a cultivated item is the guide to Vietnam's fruit as touched on there, a familiar crop grown throughout the country, and for that very reason prices crash easily when supply concentrates.
DOVECO's 'floor-price guarantee + flowering adjustment' fills the price collapse
What the reporting emphasizes is less the price itself than the structure of the contract. DOVECO buys from contract farmers while linking to the market price but setting a floor price (gia san, an insurance price). Even if the market sinks to 5,000 dong, contract holders can convert to cash at the floor, so they can avoid distress-selling in the concentrated-shipping period. The company also instructs farmers in the technology of controlling shipping timing through flowering treatment (ethylene treatment). If the harvest can be artificially staggered, it reduces the situation in which the whole region ships all at once in the same week and crashes the price itself.
This two-stage setup of 'supporting the downside with a price guarantee and dispersing shipments with technology' advances contract farming a step beyond a mere purchase promise. In Vietnam, the move of food-processing companies signing contracts with small farmers is spreading, with companies gaining quality and volume and farmers gaining sales channels and technology. Vietnamese agriculture success cases for Japanese companies to learn from This case is in the same lineage as the sixth-industrialization and contract-farming patterns organized there. DOVECO owns three processing sites of its own and can route fresh fruit to processing year-round, so the key is that it secures the backing for offering a floor price through the plants' operation.
¥6.6 million per hectare in Ninh Binh — a contract farmer's take-home
As a sense of reality from the region, the reporting cites the example of farmer Nguyen Van Giang. His field harvests about 60 tonnes per hectare, and this season's income is said to have exceeded 1.1 billion dong per hectare (about ¥6.6 million). It is a figure consistent with the calculation of about 1.14 billion dong from 60 tonnes x 19 million dong. That said, this level is a result specific to this season, supported by a record high; in normal times, the per-hectare income of Ninh Binh pineapple has been put at around 300 million dong in a typical year. Reading the entire upswing of a high-price year as permanent income is risky.
The growing region spreads beyond Ninh Binh province to the north-central provinces of Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, and Ha Tinh. Dong Giao pineapple is a specialty protected as a geographical indication (GI) of Ninh Binh, and it is partly because this is a region where regional brand and processing capacity are both in place that a contract centered on a floor price keeps turning. The season in which pineapple circulates itself is the seasonal calendar of Vietnamese fruit where they can be checked item by item.
Carton pineapple juice onto Japan's convenience-store shelves — implications for the procurement side
For Japanese buyers, this region's move ties directly to the procurement of canned, frozen, and juice products. DOVECO has the EU, China, the US, and Japan as its main export destinations, and on a reporting basis, Japan and Korea alone account for about a quarter of its exports. The company began shipping carton-packed straight pineapple juice to Japan from November 2025 and is reported to have entered Japanese convenience-store distribution. For Vietnam as a whole, pineapple exports have entered a stage of setting a target on the scale of US$1 billion in export value, and several Vietnamese agricultural companies exhibited at FOODEX JAPAN 2026 as well.
What cannot be overlooked from a procurement viewpoint is that even if a region's wholesale price swings between 5,000 and 19,000 dong, the purchase price does not necessarily swing in the same range under a contract-based trade. In regions where a floor price and shipment dispersion are at work, the supply volume and price of processing raw material become easier to read. For the Japanese side wanting to draw on canned or frozen pineapple steadily, partnering with a processor that has such a contract chain gives higher predictability of volume and delivery than chasing only the spot-market high.
Look at 'resistance to collapse' rather than the height of the price
This news is circulating under the headline 'record high,' but what has practical meaning is not the high price itself. It is rather the fact that the market, which sank to 5,000 dong in April and May, did not directly hit contract farmers' take-home pay. Supporting the downside with a floor price, scattering shipments with flowering adjustment, and consuming year-round at its own plants — only when these three mesh can both the crash and the surge be smoothed. What the person sourcing pineapple for Japan should look at is not how many dong that year's wholesale price is, but how far a counterpart's region is equipped with this resistance to collapse.
Sources
- Nông nghiệp & Môi trường, 'Giá dứa tăng kỷ lục 19 triệu đồng/tấn' (August 10, 2026)https://nongnghiepmoitruong.vn/gia-dua-tang-ky-luc-19-trieu-dong-tan-d825453.html
- Vietnamnet「Vietnam’s pineapple exports gain momentum toward $1 billion goal」https://vietnamnet.vn/en/vietnam-s-pineapple-exports-gain-momentum-toward-1-billion-goal-2423668.html
- VCCI「DOVECO: Raising the Value of Vietnamese Agricultural Products」https://en.vcci.com.vn/doveco-raising-the-value-of-vietnamese-agricultural-products
- Vietnam News「Vietnamese agribusinesses strengthen presence at Foodex Japan 2026」https://vietnamnews.vn/economy/1767124/vietnamese-agribusinesses-strengthen-presence-at-foodex-japan-2026.html
