At VND250,000 per kg or $10.53, US cherries landing in Vietnam plummeted by nearly 50% to a fresh low in week 2 of August 2023, considering they cost double that price (VND500,000) in summer 2022. 

Customers are celebrating this boon in price by appearing in great numbers. A grocery operator in Ho Chi Minh City known as My Hanh says that the price cut has attracted buyers to her shop to such an extent that she had to import extra boxes in 2023.

This is “30% more than last year,” she quips. Even lower class consumers who could not afford the imported fruit before are now accessing American cherries in large grocers at a median price of VND300K ($12.63).

As backlash to the price turnround, store keepers are opting for red cherries which are costing up to 340,000VND ($14.31) per kg and yellow cherries, now retailing at VND350,000 ($14.73) a kilo. These two prices are, however, still lower than those corresponding to a similar period in 2022.

The price drop is related to the bountiful harvests in California whose season started Mid-April and extended to July. Michigan harvests also began in June and are extending through August. 

The statistical arm of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) predicts that the output of sweet cherries in 2023 will be 60% up over that of 2022. At an expected national production peak of 371,000 metric tons by end 2023, Washington state in the Pacific Northwest will account for 3/4 of the total production. At 240,000 tons, this will be a rise of 66% from the state’s 2022 figures.

Prices in the US home turf 

In the US itself, dark red sweet cherries from Washington state were going for $7.6 per kg in Boston or $56 per 15-pound (ib) bag in Boston on Thursday, August 10.  This makes them cheaper by $2.93 per kilo than the retail price of imported American cherries in Vietnam.

The highest price of cherries in the US in the week ending August 10, 2023 was in Los Angeles at $14.39 a kg. The LA commodity market was selling cherries this week in 12-ib cartons at $78.50.

The current average price range of US cherries is between $5 and $12, a price reflected in New York this week ($5.5 per kg or $45 per 18-ib carton), Detroit ($8.25 a kg or 67.50 per 18-ib carton) and Los Angeles at the upper tier of $14.39 a kg. 

Sweet cherries are produced in three major states, namely Oregon, California and Washington, in ascending order, while tart/sour cherries come from mainly Michigan, New York and Utah.