Cao Bang, a mountainous province in northern Vietnam. In the Ton Nua hamlet of Ha Lang district near the China–Vietnam border, a farmer once laughed at for "planting a strange tree" is now reaching the fruiting period. Macadamia that Lang Van Then planted in 2022 has borne fruit, and a circle of cultivation drawing in surrounding farmers is spreading. Much of the macadamia circulating in Japan is from Australia and Hawaii, and a structure in which demand outstrips supply continues. A new source growing in northern Vietnam is a move that nut-handling Japanese importers cannot overlook in thinking about sourcing options.
A "strange tree" that was laughed at has borne fruit: the turning point of Ton Nua hamlet
Lang Van Then of Ton Nua hamlet, Ha Lang district, Cao Bang province, began in 2022 to plant macadamia seedlings on a slope that no one had touched before. At the time he was viewed coldly by neighbors as "planting something odd," but in 2026, the fourth year from planting, he met his first harvest period and bore a sizable crop. Then's field now has more than 100 macadamia trees growing.
This success developed into a hamlet-level move. In Ton Nua hamlet, 12 households took part in macadamia cultivation, with the cultivation area reaching about 7 hectares. Across Ha Lang district as a whole, 45 poor and near-poor households took up cultivation, spreading to about 17 hectares in total. Hilly land that had gone to waste is changing into fruit-bearing orchards.
Why Cao Bang now: origin-building in the northern mountains
Macadamia first drew serious attention in Vietnam in the Central Highlands (such as Lam Dong province in the Tay Nguyen region), with the northern mountains joining later. In Cao Bang, some farmers began planting individually around 2013, but varieties and cultivation management were not aligned and it did not stabilize. The turning point was 2021. With research institutions setting out on scientific variety selection and the lineages suited to the land being organized, the groundwork was laid for the plantings by Then and others from 2022 to bear fruit.
Across Cao Bang province as a whole, macadamia is already planted on over 300 hectares, of which over 10 hectares has entered a stable harvest stage. The province holds a target of expanding the cultivation area to 2,000 hectares by 2030. The breakdown is 1,500 hectares of macadamia monoculture and 500 hectares of intercropping with other crops. The emerging origin is at the stage of trying to spread from a "point" to an "area."
Yield and scale, current position seen in verified figures
How much production power does Cao Bang's macadamia have? We organize the figures the original article shows by cultivation stage.
| Item | Figure | Range / note |
|---|---|---|
| Ha Lang district, number of cultivating households | 45 households | Centered on poor and near-poor households |
| Ha Lang district, cultivation area | About 17 ha | District-wide |
| Ton Nua hamlet, cultivating households / area | 12 households / about 7 ha | Including Then's field |
| Fresh-fruit yield (guide) | About 2.3 t/ha/year | Fields with stable fruiting |
| Processing yield to dried kernel | 1–2 t/ha/year | After shelling and drying |
| Cao Bang province 2030 target | 2,000ha | Monoculture 1,500 ha + intercropping 500 ha |
Macadamia is a crop said to take 7–10 years from planting to harvesting commercial quantities, and even if it begins bearing in the fourth or fifth year, it takes several more years to reach full shipping volume. Most of Cao Bang's fields are still young, and as the figure of over 10 hectares in stable harvest shows, even as the area widens, it has not reached a stage where it can put out bundled volume as an origin. What Japanese procurement managers should grasp is its current position as "an origin just about to get going."
The local reception, a temperature gap between farmers and the administration
From local reporting and the voices of those involved, three different receptions of the cultivation can be read. We paraphrase and organize them.
- The farmer who led the planting speaks of the feel of it, seeing clusters of fruit after four years of persisting while being laughed at finally take shape.
- The hamlet farmers who followed are centered on poor and near-poor households, placing hopes on it as a new crop that could become a pillar of cash income.
- The administration positions it as a "green conversion" turning waste hillsides into orchards and waves the flag of area expansion. At the same time, there is a backdrop of caution that unless seedling quality and cultivation technology are aligned, it could repeat the failure of around 2013.
Momentum and caution coexisting is the undisguised current state of an emerging origin.
Implications for Japanese importers and procurement managers
Much of the macadamia circulating within Japan is Australian and Hawaiian, and the price is in the high class among nuts. Behind this are the time it takes for macadamia trees to reach commercial volume, the labor of shelling, and the high labor costs of main producing areas, and a structure in which demand outstrips supply has continued. This very supply skew is the reason to turn eyes to Vietnam's emerging origins.
However, Cao Bang's positioning is not "an origin you can buy from right now" but "a candidate source with an eye several years ahead." The practical implications for Japanese procurement managers can be organized into the following three. First, since it is not a stage to count on volume, position it as a target of information-gathering to assess variety, dried-kernel quality, and yield. Second, the cool climate zone of the northern mountains may produce a flavor and size uniformity different from the Central Highlands, so make contact at the sample level on the premise of tasting. Third, given its character as administration-led origin-building that doubles as poverty reduction, it is easy to bring out traceability and story, making it well-matched as a raw material for gifts and differentiated goods.
Ripple effects on the whole Vietnamese macadamia industry
Cao Bang's move is also one facet of the macadamia promotion Vietnam is advancing as national strategy. Vietnam holds targets of a nationwide cultivation area of 100,000 hectares, output of 165,000 tonnes, and export value of US$1 billion by 2030, trying to raise it as a "US$1 billion tree." Currently cultivation has spread across more than 20 provinces, with the Central Highlands led by Lam Dong province as the center of volume.
Among them, the northern mountains such as Cao Bang and Lang Son are small in area, but they are positioned as "another axis" that advances poverty reduction and the building of a production base at the same time in the midland and mountainous areas of the border region. If the north develops, Vietnamese macadamia will gain breadth of production areas and a spread-out harvest season, adding depth as an export product. For Japan, it means one more medium- to long-term option against a supply structure that tends to depend on Australia alone.
Related information and comparison with other production areas
As another macadamia production area in northern Vietnam, this site has already covered developments in neighboring Lang Son province. Lang Son is ahead in building a production base with an eye on exports, the article on Lang Son province's development of a production base aimed at macadamia exports and reading it alongside this piece reveals differences in area, growers and stage even within the same northern mountains. If Lang Son is "the next stage with an eye on exports," then Ha Lang in Cao Bang is "an emerging area where fruiting has only just begun," differing in maturity as a production region.
This trend of "nurturing a border region's specialty into an industry" is spreading across northern and central Vietnam, not just in nuts. From the standpoint of raw-material supply and exports, the article on cinnamon oil exports which makes use of aromatic components, is also a useful reference in the same context. And in terms of the narrative of a single grower raising a single tree, the article on an old mangosteen tree resonates with the anecdote of Cao Bang's "strange tree."
Summary: what to move on now is "information" and "samples"
Macadamia in Ha Lang, Cao Bang province, is at the stage where trees planted amid ridicule have finally borne fruit. At 17 hectares and 45 households in the district, the scale is still small, and the province's goal of 2,000 hectares by 2030 remains a target for the future. That is precisely why the next move for Japanese importers and nut procurement managers is not bulk purchasing but securing information and samples. Specifically, three points: (1) keep continuously watching Cao Bang's varieties and yields together with leading northern production areas such as Lang Son; (2) establish contact on a sample basis with the institutions and operators leading the local build-up of the production base, and evaluate the flavor of northern-mountain produce against your own standards; (3) factor it into menus a few years out as a candidate raw material for differentiated products that can leverage traceability and story. Precisely because macadamia supply remains skewed, the shoots of an emerging production area are worth watching early.
