02/18/2024 09:42

Many traders are struggling to find ways to liquidate ornamental plants after Tet. Photo: Thien Y

(PLVN) - After Tet is also the time when many traders selling ornamental plants for Tet start to sell off in the hope of recouping some capital.

2023 is considered a difficult year, so business is affected, leading to a decrease in people's income. Therefore, the demand for buying ornamental plants for Tet has also decreased sharply, causing many small traders selling peach, kumquat, grapefruit... to be "unsold".

According to the reporter's records, although the Lunar New Year holiday of Giap Thin 2024 has ended, on some streets in Vinh City, Nghe An Province, there are still some remaining kumquat, grapefruit, peach... selling points that have not been cleared. Many traders are waiting for customers to come and liquidate everything, while others are trying to salvage whatever trees they can.

Mr. Doan Phong, a merchant specializing in selling ornamental grapefruit trees for Tet in Vinh City, said that this year the economy is difficult, and there are few customers coming to buy grapefruit trees, so up to now he still has more than half of the trees he put up for sale unsold.

Many ornamental grapefruit trees waiting to be liquidated. Photo: Thien Y

According to Mr. Phong, he spent 6 billion to import ornamental plants to sell at 2 locations in Vinh City (Nghe An) and Ha Tinh, mainly Dien grapefruit and kumquat. However, business was not as expected, both locations only sold nearly half of the ornamental plants before Tet.

"This year I spent a lot of money to import ornamental plants to sell, but things did not go as expected. There were very few customers coming to buy plants, causing the products to be "unsold" and so far I have only sold about half of them.

Even though Tet is over, I still have to try harder, hoping that there will be customers coming to buy. Luckily, yesterday, a customer from Quynh Luu district came to buy all 40 remaining grapefruit trees for about 120 million VND. Now I'm waiting for them to come up to negotiate. If they agree, I'll sell them and pay for the land," Phong shared.

A pomelo tree originally cost 50 million VND but now sells for only 15 million VND. Photo: Thien Y

It is known that for large Dien grapefruit trees, before Tet, Mr. Phong sold for 40 - 50 million VND per tree, now he only sells for about 10 - 15 million VND. As for small trees, which used to sell for 10 - 15 million VND, now only sell for 4 - 5 million VND.

Not far away at the intersection of Lenin Avenue and Ly Tu Trong Street, Ms. Ha, a small trader from Hung Yen, was also absent-mindedly standing next to the remaining kumquat trees.

A kumquat selling point in Vinh City is "unsold" waiting for trucks to pick up.

Ms. Ha shared that although she knew the economy was difficult, this year she only brought 1,000 kumquat trees to Nghe An to sell during Tet, but counting before and after 7 days of Tet, she has only sold about 400 trees.

"Although Tet is over, I still want to try harder to see if any customers come to buy the tree. Now, customers only buy it to plant for next year's use or as a fruit tree. No one is displaying it anymore."

Everything is in tatters after Tet. Photo: Thien Y

According to Ms. Ha, each kumquat tree before Tet was sold for 300,000 - 1 million VND/tree, but now it is only sold for about 100,000 VND.

Ms. Ha said she sold it to recover capital and also hoped to liquidate everything to avoid having to pay for a truck to transport the trees back to Hung Yen.

Due to being displayed for a long time, the kumquat trees' fruit fell and rotted at the base. Photo: Thien Y

Due to the long time of displaying fruit-bearing ornamental plants, many trees have lost all their fruit and leaves, rotted, affecting the environment as well as urban aesthetics.

Mr. Ngo Xuan Nam - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Ha Huy Tap Ward, Vinh City said that this year, the ornamental plant business of small traders has encountered many difficulties. Although the deadline for clearing the selling points and returning the premises to customers has passed, some small traders are still staying to salvage their capital.

"The locality has also communicated and reminded traders to find solutions to deal with the remaining ornamental plants. At the same time, they have coordinated with the environmental company to clean up the site according to city regulations," said Mr. Nam.