Businesses and Cooperatives Score Big at the Inaugural Dong Thap Fruit Festival

(DTO) At the inaugural Dong Thap Fruit Festival 2026 (the Festival), the Fruit Trade Fair, Exhibition and Trade Promotion Event - showcasing fruit products, OCOP items, and regional specialties from the Mekong Delta - attracted nearly 100 booths from local and inter-provincial businesses, cooperatives, and organizations. 

Throughout the event, Throughout the event, exhibitors enjoyed strong sales as large numbers of visitors flocked to the fair for sightseeing and shopping.

A CELEBRATION OF DONG THAP’S FRUITS AND LOCAL SPECIALTIES

According to the Dong Thap Provincial Department of Industry and Trade, the fair is a highlight activity within the Festival, showcasing a wide range of certified products, including fresh fruits, processed goods, OCOP products, and signature specialties from Dong Thap and neighboring provinces and cities.

Local products on display included fresh fruits such as Hoa Loc mangoes, Cat Chu mangoes, lotus, coconuts, durians, green-skin pomelos, dragon fruits, oranges, tangerines, cantaloupes, sapodillas, and limes, etc.

Processed fruit products were also featured, including soursop tea, soursop jam, concentrated tangerine juice, plum jam, plum juice, concentrated honey-lime extract, dried lotus seeds, dried bananas, dried mangoes, dried jackfruit, dried durian, dried kumquats, dried ginger, dried pomelo peel snacks, butter-flavored dried taro, dried tangerine peel, and various fruit juices, etc.

The fair also showcased a wide range of OCOP products, including Lai Vung fermented pork rolls (nem), rice, brown rice, dandelion tea, roselle tea, Tram Chim wild honey, cashew nuts, peanut candy, freeze-dried yogurt, lotus seed cakes, lotus milk, lotus flower tea, lotus leaf tea, lotus plumule tea, and dried Hu Tieu noodles, dried rice vermicelli, Pho noodles, instant crab noodle soup, instant Hu Tieu noodles, nutritional powder, prawn crackers, rice crackers. Specialty condiments were also a big hit, including Go Cong-style fermented shrimp paste, fermented shrimp paste, fermented krill paste, savory pickled melons, vegetarian pickled melons, pickled scallion heads, dried chili salt, Lap xuong sausage, dried buffalo jerky, dried beef jerky, etc.

The fair also brought together a variety of distinctive regional products, including handicrafts made from luffa, handmade knitted items, and souvenir products inspired by the Fruit Festival theme; lotus incense and organic herbal incense; traditional wines such as snake wine and wild banana wine; python-fat cream; and dried freshwater fish specialties like spiny eels, glass fish, climbing perch, snakehead, dried snakeskin gourami, dried goatfish, and Siamese mud carp fish sauce, etc.

In addition, exhibitors from other provinces and cities introduced their own specialties, such as avocados and avocado-based products, Seng Cu rice, Docynia indica (tao meo) cider vinegar, coffee products, fish sauce, Tay Ninh rice paper, various rice products, dried fruits, macadamia nuts, and roasted salted cashew nuts.

SUCCESS BEYOND EXPECTATIONS

More than just a unique promotional space for fruits, OCOP products, and regional specialties, the fair established itself as a major attraction, drawing crowds of locals and tourists to explore, experience, and shop. The surge in visitor numbers during the Festival translated into highly favorable business outcomes for many participating enterprises and cooperatives.

Mr. Le Van Nam, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the My Long Agricultural Services Cooperative in My Hiep Commune, Dong Thap Province, said the unit aims to expand its seedless lime cultivation area to 100 hectares by the end of 2026. At the Festival, the cooperative showcased its flagship product—GlobalGAP-certified seedless limes.

The limes are further processed into concentrated honey-lime extract, a product designed to help alleviate sore throats, hoarseness, and voice loss while aiding in detoxification. “Through this Festival, we hope our products will broaden their reach to more consumers in Dong Thap and across the Mekong Delta, while further boosting fruit exports,” Nam said. “Our cooperative currently has 210 members and manages a cultivation area of 60 hectares.”

Mr. Le Hong Diep, a farmer from Long Tien Commune, Dong Thap Province, said that after touring the fair and sampling the exhibits, he highly valued the quality of the fruits on display. “Fruits from Dong Thap in particular and Vietnam in general are exceptionally flavorful and of outstanding quality,” he noted. “I believe these fruit products will generate greater economic value and substantially boost farmers' incomes in the future.”

Positive feedback from consumers has encouraged businesses and cooperatives to continue investing in product quality improvements and diversifying their offerings. Many exhibitors reported that both sales revenue and brand recognition far exceeded their initial expectations.

Mr. Nguyen Huu Phuc, Director of the Thien Phuc Cooperative in My Tinh An Commune, said the cooperative brought several three-star OCOP products to the Festival, including dried dragon fruit, dried bananas, dried pomelo peel, soursop tea, yellow-skinned dragon fruit, and coconuts.

“These are our key local products. During the fair, consumers highly appreciated and purchased many of our products,” Mr. Phuc said, expressing hope that the Festival would help vigorously promote local agricultural produce to a wider market. This festival attracted a large number of local residents and visitors.

In addition to processed fruit products, many fresh agricultural products also recorded robust sales, fueling a vibrant trading atmosphere throughout the Festival.

Mr. Bui Huu Phuc, Sales Director of the Dong Tam Phat Agriculture, Services, and Tourism Cooperative in Kim Son Commune, Dong Thap Province, said the cooperative currently has 18 members, including 12 official production members and several affiliated farming households. In addition to sweet passion fruit, the cooperative also supplies various seedlings, including An Phuoc plum, Malayan coconut, green dwarf coconut, and passion fruit, etc.

“On average, our booth sells around two tons of sweet passion fruit each day,” Mr. Phuc shared. “Sales have far exceeded our initial expectations. Before the Festival, we only aimed to sell a few hundred kilograms per day, but actual sales have reached about two tons daily.”

Another exhibitor reporting strong business performance was Thien Kim Trading and Services Co., Ltd., a Dong Thap-based company specializing in honey products. According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Huynh Le, Director of Thien Kim Trading Service Company Limited (Dong Thap Province), at this year’s Festival, the company introduced specialty products sourced from Tram Chim National Park, including Tram Chim forest honey, lotus flower honey, and passion fruit juice blended with honey. All these items have been certified as three-star OCOP products.

Assessing business results after three days at the Festival, Ms. Nguyen Thi Huynh Le, Director of the company, said customer traffic had been exceptionally high. “Not only our booth, but most booths featuring OCOP products from Dong Thap and neighboring provinces and cities have recorded strong sales. Some exhibitors even struggled with stock shortages because supply could not keep pace with the surging consumer demand. The results have far exceeded our expectations,” 

“Through this Festival, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Organizing Committee and provincial leaders for creating favorable conditions for local OCOP enterprises to directly engage with consumers, introduce products, and provide better customer service.

The fair has been organized very successfully. I am delighted to see Dong Thap’s OCOP products receiving such enthusiastic support from the public, alongside the Festival’s cultural performances, artistic activities, and impressive floral and fruit displays.” she said.

The success of the fair, held within the framework of the Festival, is reflected not only in strong sales and high visitor turnout but also in the opportunities it has created for businesses, cooperatives, and producers to expand market connections and strengthen brand promotion.

This is a highly positive signal, driving up the value of local agricultural products while cementing the position of Dong Thap fruits on their journey to winning over both domestic and international consumers.

By T. DAT - V. THAO
Translated by X.QUANG