China: More uncertainties in the apple export market
As one of the world's largest apple producing countries, China's apple producing areas are widely di…As one of the world's largest apple producing countries, China's apple producing areas are widely distributed, and the annual output is huge. In the past few years, the performance of the Apple export market has been unstable, which is caused by multiple factors. First of all, the trade policy between countries is changeable. For example, India, the main export destination of Chinese apples, has imposed an import ban on Chinese apples, which has caused a considerable number of exporters to suffer serious losses. Secondly, extreme weather affects the output of apples at any time. Taking this year as an example, a large-scale volume of cold air in early April directly led to serious production cuts in many producing areas, and some major producing areas even faced zero production, which will undoubtedly have a decisive impact on the listing price of apples in the new season in October.
"As a large-scale apple export company that has been established for more than 30 years, we purchase apples from major production areas in China throughout the year and, after packaging, we export them to Russia, Southeast Asia and other markets. Although the operation of the big market environment is not stable, our own export performance is still relatively satisfactory. This is mainly thanks to our strict control of the quality of the fruits we purchase and the flexible adjustment of market strategies. No matter in which sales market, good quality fruit is always popular with the market," said Alice, an export manager at Dalian Golden Apple Co Ltd, in an interview with Freshplaza.
"In addition to apples, we also purchase grapes and plums from the northeastern production areas. After packaging, they are sold to wholesale markets and supermarkets in China's first- and second-tier markets. Before this, we tried to export grapes to overseas markets, but due to the weather and other uncertainties, the grapes which should have been of good quality and color, became rotten after they arrived at the destination by sea. In this case, we temporarily stopped exporting the grapes. But this does not mean that we gave up on this market. In the future, we will continue to make export attempts when the situation is ideal and the timing is right."