Fresh areca nut prices increase, areca nut seeds "attract" customers

Unable to hide her joy after selling a batch of areca nuts at a high price, Ms. Nguyen Thi Binh (village 23, Ea Ning commune) shared that her family currently has more than 400 areca trees planted around her garden, mainly between paths and fences in the coffee garden. Although the number is not much, these areca trees are becoming a stable source of income for her family as prices have continuously increased in recent years.

About 10 days ago, traders came to buy the first batch of 300kg, selling at up to 58,000 VND/kg. Mrs. Binh shared that this year's crop, her family can collect 5-7 tons of fresh areca nuts thanks to stable productivity. Although the price is high, she has not yet received a deposit from traders to keep the garden and will not harvest young areca nuts to maintain quality for the next batches. "Compared to the beginning of last year, the price of areca nuts this year has increased by 15,000-20,000 VND/kg. If this price is kept stable until the end of the season, my family can earn hundreds of millions of VND in profit," Mrs. Binh said excitedly.

Workers at a drying kiln in Ea Ktur commune are sorting areca nuts.

Ms. Pham Thi Thuy's family (village 85, Ea Ktur commune) currently has 200 pure areca trees. Ms. Thuy said that this year's areca crop was good, each tree produced 5 to 6 bunches, with an estimated yield of about 1.5 tons (an increase of 0.5 tons compared to last year). However, due to the erratic weather, the areca fruit grew slowly, so the crop started half a month later than usual. Three days ago, her family sold the first 50 kg of fresh areca at 60,000 VND/kg (20,000 VND higher than last year). "Areca prices have increased, areca farmers like me are very happy. Each bunch of areca weighs 15 - 17 kg, and with the current price of 55,000 - 60,000 VND/kg, my family makes a big profit," Ms. Thuy shared.

Not only areca growers, the atmosphere at areca purchasing and processing facilities has also become bustling. Ms. Tran Thi Ly, owner of an areca drying kiln in Chiet village (Ea Ktur commune) started purchasing areca in the province about a month ago, with a starting price of 46,000 VND/kg. According to Ms. Ly, areca grown in Dak Lak is favored by the market thanks to its beautiful appearance and good quality (solid, soft, sweet, fine grain), so the purchasing price is always higher than that of areca from Binh Thuan province (old) or the provinces of the Southwest. In the past 10 days, the price of areca has increased to 60,000 - 70,000 VND/kg, the price applied to the type of areca that meets the standards to make dried black areca. The price has increased and the purchasing standards are also more stringent, the areca must reach 32 - 37 fruits/kg or the ratio of black and white areca in a bunch must be equal to be purchased.

The price of fresh areca is at a high level, causing the demand for seedlings of people in the province to increase sharply. According to nursery owners and seedling establishments, due to the high price of areca, many gardeners have boldly expanded the area of areca planting, making the areca seed market more vibrant than ever. Up to this point, there are still many customers asking and ordering areca seedlings. Currently, areca seedlings cost from 12,000 - 30,000 VND/tree (depending on size).

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hanh, owner of Hanh Hai nursery (Nguyen Luong Bang street, Tan Lap ward) said that in the past 5 years, the demand for areca planting has increased. Since the beginning of 2025, the facility has prepared a large number of areca seedlings to promptly meet the needs of farmers. Accordingly, the facility has started to grow 400,000 areca trees (3-4 times more than previous years) of the cow udder and long-fruit varieties (two areca varieties that are popular in the market).

“Because of the proactive irrigation water source, since the beginning of January, many people have been busy choosing and buying seedlings to plant. Since the beginning of the year, the facility has sold 300,000 areca seedlings (at 12,000 VND/tree) according to orders from gardeners and customers in the two provinces of Dak Lak and Dak Nong (old). The facility currently has about 100,000 areca seedlings in the garden, however, with the current purchasing power (about 5,000 trees/day), it is expected that these areca seedlings will be sold out in the near future,” Ms. Hanh shared.

Similarly, this year, Mr. Luong Van Tich's family (Ea Ktur commune) also nursed about 3,000 areca seedlings to supply the market. It is known that Mr. Tich's family only grew areca for fruit. However, in the past two years, realizing the strong increase in market demand for areca seedlings, he has developed the business of nursing areca seedlings to earn more income. To ensure the seedlings meet standards, he chooses mature areca clusters from mother trees in the garden, which are 10 years old or older. Thanks to the quality assurance, he sells all the seedlings he nurses. This year, Mr. Tich's areca seedlings are sold at two prices: 20,000 VND/tree and 30,000 VND/tree.

Instead of buying seedlings from the nursery, many households choose to order ripe areca nuts to grow themselves to ensure the quality and productivity of the crop. Seeing the high price of areca nuts and low care costs, this year Ms. Mai Thi Cuc's family (Ea Knuec commune) plans to interplant 500 areca nuts in the coffee garden to increase income. According to Ms. Cuc, this year the source of areca nuts on the market is quite abundant, but because of concerns about the quality, she contacted a long-time areca nut grower in Tan An ward to order 500 areca nuts, at 10,000 VND/nut.

Source: https://baodaklak.vn/kinh-te/202508/gia-cau-tuoi-tang-cau-giong-hut-hang-2821534/