Peach and kumquat growers in Hanoi are looking forward to a bumper crop as the weather has become rather cold, with the occasional warm day during the years-end.

Although the Tet (Lunar New Year) festival is still to come, the kumquat fields have started to turn yellow while the red peach blossoms are in bud. Many owners of peach orchards in Nhat Tan have gathered their ornamental trees together and are waiting for buyers.

Almost every grower in Nhat Tan and Tu Lien, Hanoi’s largest peach and kumquat growing area, seems to be excited. Dao, who owns over 400 peach trees in Nhat Tan, said that many perennial peach trees with a good shape and big buds have been bought in advance, some even for a price of nearly 30 million VND. Meanwhile, the prices of peach branches will range from between 50,000 VND to 400,000 VND each.

According to Tuan Viet, the owner of a peach garden in Au Co Street, besides the Nhat Tan-trademarked peach, a new kind of peach which is a cross between the Nhat Tan and wild peach is also extremely popular with customers. Around 20 households in Nhat Tan Ward have applied new technologies, which should hopefully lead to more efficiency.

The same busy atmosphere has been seen in kumquat orchards. Lien, who has a kumquat orchard in Tu Lien village, confirmed a bumper kumquat crop as his 200 kumquat trees have produced large fruit with green leaves and nice shapes. “Dry weather and an average temperature of 20 degrees Celsius as it is now is very suitable for kumquat trees,” he said.

Despite expectations of a better crop for peach and kumquat trees this year, a lot of orchard owners claim that the price of ornamental trees at Tet will hardly increase or only see a small rise of 10 percent or so compared to the previous festival.

According to Dao, the majority of his customers usually buy peach trees according to their tastes and hobbies. “Therefore, my prices cannot follow the upward trend in market prices”, he said, adding that “I want to keep my prices the same or maybe just put them up a little bit compared to last year to please my regular customers.” At present, his peach trees are sold at between 2-7 million VND each.

Many other growers in Nhat Tan and Tu Lien say that the prices of peach and kumquat trees this Tet will not rise sharply because there are large numbers of trees flooding into the capital from neighbouring provinces.

In addition, due to difficulties caused by the global economic crisis, people will be more careful about their spending and limit their purchases, so raising prices will deter customers.

With over a month left until Tet arrives, several families have already decorated their houses with kumquat and peach trees to enjoy the warm atmosphere of New Year a little bit earlier./.