Cherries ushered in a big price cut, what about Sunshine Rose and Golden Pillow Durian?
After New Year's Day, Chilean cherries continue to mature and go on the market, and the production is abundant. Coupled with the arrival of cherries by sea, the price of cherries is on a downward trend.
According to the statistics of the Beijing Xinfadi Wholesale Market, on December 31, 2023, the average selling price of Chilean imported cherries was 60 yuan per catty, compared with the average price of 120 yuan per catty on November 10, 2023, the price has dropped by half, and the sales volume has also increased significantly.
Cherry prices "cut in half"
"In less than a month, the price of JJJJ cherries per catty has dropped by dozens of yuan!" On the 10th, the reporter visited a number of fruit shops in Chaoyang District, Beijing, and the merchants told reporters. The "J" (Jumbo) is a commonly used unit for grading cherries in the Southern Hemisphere, and is commonly used in Chile, New Zealand, Australia, etc. The more "J" numbers there are, the bigger the cherries.
Chile is one of the world's largest exporters of cherries, and most of the cherries commonly found in the Chinese market also come from Chile.
In the fruit store, the price of JJ cherries is mostly 48 yuan/jin to 58 yuan/jin, and the price of JJJJ cherries is slightly more expensive, with the price mostly 68 yuan/jin to 78 yuan/jin. The owner of a fruit shop told reporters, "When it was listed in October last year, the retail price of JJJJ cherries was 168 yuan per catty, and in December last year, the price of this cherry fell to about 110 yuan per catty, and this week the price has dropped to about 68 yuan per catty." In addition, cherries of the same grade are generally more expensive than sea freight due to the high cost and good taste of air freight. ”
The person in charge of purchasing in a supermarket previously said that the quality of cherries in Chilean production areas is stable, and the arrival volume is gradually increasing. In the first week of January 2024 compared with the first week of December last year, the price of JJ's original box cherries dropped by 50%, the price of JJJ original box cherries decreased by more than 40%, and the sales volume of cherries increased by nearly 7 times.
Domestic cherries still have a lot of potential
"When it was first listed, the volume of cherries was small, many of them were shipped by air, and the transportation cost was high, so the price was high, but with the increase in the production of cherries in Chile, many of them arrived by sea, and the transportation cost dropped a lot, and the price of cherries would drop significantly. In previous years, it was almost the same rule, it was more expensive in October, and then it will continue to decline, and the price in January will basically stabilize, but during the Spring Festival, everyone buying New Year's goods may drive the unit price of cherries to rise again, but generally not too much. A fruit dealer who runs a cherry import business in Dalian told reporters.
In fact, cherries are a European sweet cherry variety, considering the different origins of imported cherries, the different time to market, and the maturity of China's local cultivation technology, it can basically be supplied all season. For example, Chilean cherries are available from the end of October to March, Australian cherries from January to early February, and Northwest Cherries in the United States from mid-June to the end of August.
Cai Yuliang, a professor at the College of Horticulture of Northwest A&F University and chief expert of the modern cherry industry technology system in Shaanxi Province, said that academically speaking, the so-called cherries and domestically produced cherries are the same thing, but the varieties are different. "The general development period of domestic cherries takes 30-40 days from flowering to fruiting, which belongs to early-to-mid-ripening cherries, and the development period of imported cherries from flowering to maturity takes more than 60 days, which belongs to late-maturing cherries, usually with good hardness, high sweetness, large fruits and storage resistance. ”
From a market point of view, domestic cherries still have a lot of potential. "The domestic cherry industry started a little later, and cherries can be said to be the only fruit that is not saturated with development. At present, there are actually 3.5 million acres of large cherries in our country, but they are mainly early and mid-ripening. Cai Yuliang said that on the whole, China's cherry market still has a lot of consumption space, especially late-maturing cherries, there is a development gap of about 2 million acres, and the future market growth potential is great.
From a technical point of view, the domestic cultivation technology has been in line with the international standard. However, Cai Yuliang said that many excellent varieties are still introduced from abroad. In addition, there are relatively few cherry research teams in China, so there is still a long way to go in breeding.
High-end fruits are gradually "close to the people" in China's big market
In addition to cherries, in recent years, the prices of many high-end fruits in the domestic consumer market have gradually become "close to the people". Different high-end fruits are facing the test from the market.
For example, the "Estee Lauder of the pomegranate world" Tunisian soft-seeded pomegranate was once sold for 100 yuan per catty, but the price fell to seven or eight yuan per catty in October last year. In addition, the price of Sunshine Rose, known as the "Hermes of the grape world", was like riding a "roller coaster" last year, falling from 300 yuan per catty to single digits. In the summer with a large yield, 10 yuan, 20 yuan and 1 kg of sunshine roses are very common.
As a winter fruit "aristocrat", the price of many varieties of strawberries, including Hongyan, Tianbao, Ningyu, etc., has also fallen. It is understood that in Xinfadi, Beijing, the wholesale price of these strawberries this year is only 8 yuan per catty.
In addition, the main reason why these expensive fruits "fell off the altar" is that under the high price, many fruit farmers have expanded their production area, and the fruit output has increased significantly. Data show that in recent years, the country has added more than 100,000 mu of "sunshine roses" every year, and this year's planting area is estimated to reach 2 million mu. The area under strawberry cultivation has also increased from 78.1 thousand hectares in 2011 to 139.97 thousand hectares in 2021.
Under the changes in the consumer market, China's fruit industry is actively seeking transformation and upgrading, innovating varieties and continuously improving cultivation technology. Major fruit exporters such as Chile and Thailand are also taking various measures to better connect with the Chinese market. Cai Yuliang told reporters that in order to get closer to the market, some Chilean cherry producers have visited Shaanxi for three or four consecutive years.
Another fruit that has attracted the attention of domestic consumers will enter the harvest and export season in the next 3 months, and the first batch of durians will be available in April. According to preliminary estimates by Thailand's Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, annual durian production is expected to increase by 15.3% due to farmers expanding their planting area.
In addition, most of Thailand's durian is exported to China, and durian-producing regions such as Malaysia and Vietnam also provide consumers with more choices, and it is expected that the price of durian in Thailand in 2024 may be the same as in 2023 and will not rise further.
Source: CCTV