China: Jinxiang garlic export market faces challenges

"The peak export period of Chinese garlic this year will be from June to the end of August. Because…

"The peak export period of Chinese garlic this year will be from June to the end of August. Because of the moderate weather during December 2016, the garlic production volume in Jinxiang county has increased by 10 to 20%. The increase even goes up to 25% in other production regions. The main reason for this development was the exceedingly high garlic price in the past few years. This has caused a significant expansion of the cultivation," Says Mr. Salem Jiang from Jinxiang Fanghua Trading.

"For the Chinese garlic export market, 2017 is a year full of grim and unpromising challenges. If we look globally, the harvest of garlic was very abundant. The result is a large increase of the production volume. If we include the high prices for Chinese garlic from the previous period and the fact that the garlic export of other countries is fired up as well, we estimate that the export price will drop by 30% to 40%, if the export quantity remains the same as last year."

"Our company was founded in 1985. We are a company that produces agricultural products with an experience of 20 years in garlic cultivation, production and transport. In Jinxiang county, we have a garlic cultivation base of about 6.6 hectares. We cultivate purple garlic and pure white garlic and have a yearly production of 15,000 kg per hectare.

"The superior garlic we produce is mainly sold through traditional wholesale channels. We sell to Southeast Asia and Europe through the harbours of Shenzhen and Qingdao (90%) and we also sell to the wholesale markets of Chinese first-tier and second-tier cities (10%). In the future, we hope that we'll have an opportunity to expand into the markets of Europe and North-America, so consumers there can also taste the high-quality garlic from Jinxiang!."