{"id":1315,"date":"2026-07-05T18:32:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T09:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/?post_type=industry_news&p=1315"},"modified":"2026-07-05T18:58:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T09:58:35","slug":"cantho-areca-china","status":"publish","type":"industry_news","link":"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/en\/industry_news\/cantho-areca-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Areca over rice: a 5-ha Can Tho orchard reflects the gamble of relying on China"},"content":{"rendered":"

A farmer in Can Tho city in the Mekong Delta, tearing out paddy and fruit trees and choosing the path of planting only areca (binro; cau in Vietnamese),<\/strong> earned a profit of over 1 billion dong (about 6 million yen, converting at 10,000 dong = about 60 yen) from fresh-fruit sales alone in 2025. It is a case the Vietnamese paper Thanh Nien reported on July 3, 2026. It is a crop that would hardly ever appear on Japanese tables, but this one case packs in two points food buyers and farm-product trading companies should grasp: the high market sensitivity of Vietnamese farmers, and its flip side, the fragility of single-market dependence.<\/p>\n

Abandoning rice and fruit trees, all 5 ha to areca<\/h2>\n

The protagonist is Chau Quoc Hai (60), who runs an orchard in the An Phu Dong hamlet of Nhon My commune, Can Tho city (former Ke Sach district, Soc Trang province). Originally it was a mixed planting of areca and pomelo, but because \"no matter how many years he did it, the results he wanted did not come,\" he felled all the pomelo and narrowed down to areca alone. The time spent on the switch was over 10 years, with cumulative investment on the scale of tens of billions of dong, most of it going into infrastructure such as concrete paving of farm roads, revetment of waterways, and irrigation equipment.<\/p>\n

The current planting is 5 ha, roughly 15,000 trees. Of these, 6,000 are mature trees 10 years old and 9,000 are 6\u20137 years old. Hai says, \"the cau vu bo variety has stable yields and suits the soil. That's why I decided to bet on this crop for the long term.\" The variety name \"vu bo\" literally translates as 'cow's udder'; it is plump and large like a pear, with thick flesh. This thick flesh and color are favored by Chinese buyers.<\/p>\n

What is areca\u2014a \"stimulant raw material\" China buys<\/h2>\n

Little known in Japan, areca (binro) is the fruit of an evergreen tall palm, long used as a chewing stimulant in the tropics and subtropics of Asia. In Vietnam it is also an auspicious item indispensable as a wedding betrothal gift. But the biggest buyer pushing up the price now is China. In China there is a huge market that processes young fruit into sweets (areca candy) and chewing-tobacco-like stimulants, and Vietnamese fresh fruit is drawn up as its raw material. Vietnam holds a position as one of the largest supplying countries for areca exports to China, with the bulk of exports said to go to China.<\/p>\n

Here let us touch on the health aspect. The World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) places the areca nut in a classification recognized as carcinogenic, and habitual use is associated with oral health risks. This is a statement strictly within the range of facts presented by public institutions, and this article does not recommend consumption. It is also worth grasping in advance that it is not an item Japanese food operators handle as a raw material.<\/p>\n

Why areca became a 'money-earning crop'<\/h2>\n

Behind the high returns is a supply shock on the Chinese side. China's fresh-fruit areca is about 90% produced on Hainan Island, with its center, Wanning, accounting for about half of Hainan. But yellow leaf disease spread in this main producing area, and as of June 2024, 80% of Wanning's areca trees were infected. Output plunged from 220,000 tonnes in 2014 to 40,000 tonnes in 2024. As Vietnamese imports grew to fill the hole in domestic supply, prices have stayed high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Item<\/th>\nFigure<\/th>\nYen equivalent (approximate)<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Annual yield per mature tree<\/td>\n40\u301c50kg<\/td>\n\u2014<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Trading price of fresh areca (varies by quality and demand)<\/td>\n10,000\u2013100,000 dong\/kg<\/td>\nAbout 60\u2013600 yen\/kg<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2025 fresh-fruit sales profit<\/td>\nOver 1 billion dong<\/td>\nOver about 6 million yen<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Annual seedling output<\/td>\nAbout 600,000 trees<\/td>\n\u2014<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Seedling unit price (varies by size and transport distance)<\/td>\n12,000\u201316,000 dong\/tree<\/td>\nAbout 72\u201396 yen\/tree<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Annual profit of the seedling business<\/td>\nAbout 200 million dong<\/td>\nAbout 1.2 million yen<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Note the price range, spanning 10-fold from 10,000 dong to 100,000 dong per kg. Hai himself admits, \"the areca price fluctuates like any other farm product. It can fall below 10,000 dong and it can exceed 100,000 dong. It depends on quality and demand.\" In the market as of October 2024, it rose to 80,000\u201385,000 dong\/kg in the south in Quang Ngai and Tay Ninh, and up to a maximum of 90,000 dong in the north where supply is thin. Today's high prices are largely supported by the temporary factor of disease.<\/p>\n

Another earner\u2014seedling sales and a 'not fencing off' stance<\/h2>\n

Hai's revenue source is not fresh fruit alone. He raises about 600,000 seedlings a year and sells them at 12,000\u201316,000 dong each. The profit is about 200 million dong, small compared with fresh fruit, but it is a pillar supporting local employment. His wife, Nguyen Thuy Trang, says, \"customers with large orders come to see the orchard first. Showing them the actual trees and production process reassures them.\" Customer acquisition centers on TikTok and YouTube, and referrals from purchasing customers.<\/p>\n

What is interesting is that Hai says, \"selling seedlings is not for profit but to deliver a crop that is easy to grow and provides stable income to many farmers.\" The idea of not fencing off technology and know-how but spreading it to the region also connects to the \"Billionaire Farmers Club\"<\/a> built by durian farmers in Can Tho. The move to push up a high-return crop at the whole-origin level rather than hoarding it individually can be called a strength common to the fruit belts of the Mekong Delta.<\/p>\n

Two implications Japanese procurement managers should read<\/h2>\n

First, the speed of Vietnamese farmers switching crops. Land that was planted with fruit trees until 10 years ago is wholly switched to another high-return crop on a single signal of market price. This agility means that when a Japanese buyer tries to continuously source something Vietnamese, the lineup of supplying areas and the plantings may turn over within a few years. If you premise stable sourcing, you need to follow not only the origin's \"now\" but also its planting trends.<\/p>\n

Second, the risk of single-market dependence. Hai's high returns are supported by Chinese demand and the disease on Hainan Island\u2014both external factors he cannot control himself. If China's production recovers, or if the Chinese side changes its import policy, prices could collapse at once. The reporting too warns that \"excessive reliance on the Chinese market carries risk, and a drop in demand would bring a sharp price fall for producers.\" This is not limited to areca. It is a structure common to all Vietnamese farm products with a high export ratio to China, such as durian and lychee. A nationwide system to track durian by QR,<\/a> as in, is one answer to this dependence structure, as the origin side tries to diversify and multilayer markets through transparency and specification compliance.<\/p>\n

For Japanese food buyers, areca itself is not a procurement target. But as a discerning lesson when sourcing \"a crop whose price one huge market is bidding up,\" this case is an excellent teaching material. When choosing a supplier, ask what the origin relies on to earn, and whether there is an alternative exit when the thing it relies on collapses\u2014what areca shows is this basic stance of procurement.<\/p>\n

In sum: the higher the crop's price, the more you confirm the 'exit'<\/h2>\n

The 5-ha areca orchard in Can Tho simultaneously reflects the earning style of market-sensitive Vietnamese farmers and the fragility of single-market dependence. Three things Japanese procurement managers can put into practice from tomorrow: (1)<\/strong> When considering sourcing a Vietnamese farm product, confirm whether that item's export destinations are skewed toward a specific market such as China. (2)<\/strong> For goods whose prices move on external factors such as disease or policy, disperse risk with small-lot, as-needed orders rather than long-term contracts. (3)<\/strong> On origin visits, ask not only about 'the current price' but also the history and future plans of crop switching, and judge the sustainability of supply. The habit of reading the dependence structure behind high prices is the first step to stable sourcing.<\/p>\n

Sources<\/h2>\n