Sugarcane Juice Profits Surge in Ho Chi Minh City Heat

Throughout the country in general and Ho Chi Minh City in particular, the weather has been extremely hot recently. In Ho Chi Minh City, although there is rain, it is not much so the air is still very hot, humid and the temperature is high all day long. 

With the recent weather, it is not too surprising that drink stalls are constantly crowded with customers. 

At a small but quite famous coconut stall located on Pasteur Street (District 3), customers continuously visit to buy coconut juice to take away. According to the owner of the stall, on normal days she only sells about 20 coconuts. However, on hot days like these, she sells about 80 coconuts a day, sometimes up to 100 coconuts. Each coconut can usually be used to make 2 glasses of coconut juice, so the number of glasses of coconut juice sold each day is 160 – 100, which is 4 – 5 times more than normal days.

Sugarcane juice stalls are no less crowded in Ho Chi Minh City during this time. According to Mr. Huu Thinh, the owner of a sugarcane juice chain: “On some days when the temperature reaches 40 degrees Celsius, people line up to buy sugarcane juice. Sometimes, there are more than twenty sugarcane juice carts lined up.”

Mr. Thinh also said that on some days, 1 branch of his sugarcane juice chain sells up to 800 glasses. The number of customers is so high that they have to wait in a long line, and the staff at the store have to work continuously to serve the customers. At many times of the day, the sugarcane pulp is piled higher than the juicer, looking as massive as haystacks.

According to many people in Ho Chi Minh City, because the current weather is very sunny and hot, the demand for refreshing drinks has increased, especially for those who have to work outdoors. Ms. Ngoc Tuyet in District 7 shared: “In the morning, I drink lime tea, and now I drink coconut water. I see that my company also drinks a lot. We are always thirsty, especially when we are outside.”

It can be seen that on hot days in Ho Chi Minh City, cool and refreshing drinks are generally more popular. Examples include sugarcane juice, coconut juice, ginseng tea, lime tea, etc. In addition, fruit juices and smoothies are also very popular.