Xiêm, a speciality coconut grown for juice in Bến Tre Province. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — After the information that Vietnamese fresh husked coconuts can be exported to the US, the price of fresh coconuts in the Mekong Delta has increased again.

According to the Bến Tre Coconut Association, the price of coconuts fluctuated in the range of VNĐ25,000-45,000 (US$1.1-1.9) for 10 coconuts in the province at the beginning of this year.

However, it has increased to VNĐ35,000 - VNĐ75,000 depending on the type and quality.

At the beginning of the year, the price of fresh coconut was only VNĐ15,000 - VNĐ20,000 for 10, it has now tripled to between VNĐ60,000 to VNĐ65,000.

Bến Tre Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said that the reason why coconut prices rose was thanks to the increase in world coconut prices.

Although the coconut area of the province is the largest in the country, it is very small compared to the world, so the price of coconut depends greatly on the world market.

The domestic coconut market has many positive signals after the news that the US officially opened to Vietnamese husked coconut.

After more than two years of decline, the sharp increase in the price of coconut made coconut farmers very excited, because coconut trees are the main source of income for many households. Besides, some businesses have also started planning to export this item.

Việt Nam ranks seventh in coconut production worldwide with an area of over 188,000 ha, mainly concentrated in the Mekong Delta.

The country’s coconut area accounts for 1.67 per cent of the world's area, 2.07 per cent of Asia's coconut area.

Coconut export turnover is estimated at US$900 million last year, making Việt Nam the fourth largest exporter of coconut products in the Asia-Pacific region.

Currently, there are about 854 enterprises manufacturing and processing coconut products with many different types and sizes of activities such as processing coconut shells, copra, coconut juice to solve jobs for more than 15,000 employees.

Currently, there are more than 90 enterprises exporting coconut products, of which, 42 have exported deeply-processed products.

The coconut industry strives to export coconut and coconut products to reach over $1 billion. — VNS