Programme launched to stabilise market for Gia Lai watermelons

Programme launched to stabilise market for Gia Lai watermelons

Central Retail Vietnam has launched a nationwide campaign to help stabilise prices and support farmers by boosting consumption of watermelons from Gia Lai Province.

People shop watermelons at Go! supermarket in Hà Nội. — Photo courtesy of Central Retail Vietnam

Central Retail Vietnam has launched a nationwide drive to help sell watermelons from Gia Lai Province after provincial authorities warned that farmers could struggle to move their crop during the peak harvest.

The programme follows an appeal from the Gia Lai Department of Industry and Trade as falling prices and the risk of oversupply threaten growers’ incomes.

Under the initiative, watermelons from Gia Lai are now being sold across the retailer’s GO! and Tops Market supermarket chains at non-profit prices.

Red-flesh watermelons are priced at VNĐ7,500 (US$0.28) per kilogramme at GO! supermarkets in the central region and VNĐ8,500 per kg at GO! and Tops Market stores in the North and the South. The promotion began on March 7 and will run until the end of the watermelon harvest season.

Central Retail said it quickly deployed procurement teams to work with local authorities and suppliers to bring watermelons from Gia Lai into its nationwide distribution network.

The retailer expects the campaign to help consume around 200 tonnes of the fruit, contributing to efforts to stabilise prices and support local farmers.

According to the Gia Lai Department of Industry and Trade, the province has about 2,733.9 hectares under watermelon cultivation. Of this, 288.4 hectares, or 10.6 per cent, have been harvested so far, producing about 12,267 tonnes, with farm-gate prices averaging VNĐ5,000–6,000 per kg.

The remaining 2,412.5 hectares are expected to be harvested mainly between March and April. With average yields ranging from 38 to 50 tonnes per hectare, a large volume of watermelons will enter the market within a short period, raising concerns about oversupply and unstable prices. 

Bizhub