Rain gives birth to a hundred grains, the most beautiful twilight spring. At the beginning of April, the first batch of durians from Thailand and Vietnam arrived in Qingdao by air this year. On the 16th, the reporter visited the Qingdao Oriental Dingxin International Agricultural and Sideline Products Trading Center located in Daxin Street, Jimo District, and learned that the climate in Thailand this year has had a certain impact on durian production, with reduced supply, late time to market, and high air transportation costs, resulting in the recent durian price is somewhat "expensive", after entering May, Thailand and Vietnam durian will enter Qingdao in large quantities, and the price will also drop significantly.
Since Jimo built the first imported fruit port in Shandong Province more than 10 years ago, it has established a cooperation chain with a number of imported fruit producing areas to continuously reduce the cost of imported fruits and let more "foreign fruits" come to the public's table. At present, Qingdao is responsible for 40% of the province's imported fruit trading volume, and has become one of the main distribution centers of durian in the mainland, with a maximum daily trading volume of more than 2.4 million catties.
At present, durians are mainly sourced from Thailand and Vietnam
Walking into the booth area of the trading center, which is full of all kinds of seasonal fruits, merchants are busy unloading transactions. At present, the seasonal fruits in the market mainly include durian, jackfruit, dragon fruit, kiwifruit, etc. "Durian mainly comes from Thailand and Vietnam, and the daily trading volume reaches 400,000 catties. This batch of Thai Golden Pillow durian is of good quality, although the price is high, it is still in short supply. Geng Quantong, a staff member of Chengguo Fruit Industry, has been engaged in the wholesale of imported fruits for more than 10 years, and he said that durian is available all year round, and the transaction peaks from April to June every year.
As soon as durian entered the market, it attracted traders to "scramble".
In the past few days, with the listing of durian and mangosteen in large quantities, Qingdao Oriental Dingxin International Agricultural and Sideline Products Trading Center has presented a hot trading scene. Every day, as soon as the day dawns, the market exudes a strong durian smell, dozens of durian trucks are lined up in several rows, wholesalers are busy unpacking and inspecting the goods, and traders are scrambling to choose their favorite durians. Zhang Baozhou, a staff member of Qingdao Hetong Fruit Industry, who has been operating a durian wholesale business for many years, told reporters that in April, Thai durian ushered in the ripening season, and a large number of durians began to enter the Chinese market. But this year because of the local climate in Thailand, the durian ripening period is nearly a month later than last year, and the peak season will be ushered in in May.
Yuan Ming, manager of Qingdao Oriental Dingxin International Agricultural and Sideline Products Trading Center, said that the sales of durian this year will normally increase by about 10%.
Noble fruit slowly "popularized"
The reporter visited and found that with the listing of a large number of durians, there are more and more stalls selling durians in Qingdao, from supermarkets to streetside fruit stores, and then to mobile vendors, and the durians piled up into a hill are particularly conspicuous. Ms. Zhai, a citizen, is full of "durian control", "There are a lot of durians on the market this year, and you can see durians sold in many places." Ms. Zhai introduced that there are three fruit shops near her home, and each store is full of durians in front of the door, "The price of the durian with shell golden pillow I bought recently is about 40 yuan per catty, which is more expensive than in previous years." The reporter visited and found that the variety and quality of durian are different, and the price will be different, the price of Golden Pillow durian in Thailand is high, the wholesale price is about 28 yuan per catty, and the price of Ganyao durian in Vietnam is lower, the wholesale price is about 23 yuan per catty.
"More than 10 years ago, durian was still the nobility of the fruit aristocracy. The average price of a pound is hundreds of yuan. Now the logistics are convenient, the intermediate cost has decreased, and the aristocratic fruit is slowly 'popularized'. Ge Weixin, the owner of Chengguo Fruit Industry, who has been operating durian for more than 10 years in the Oriental Dingxin International Agricultural and Sideline Products Trading Center, said that he just started to do the business of imported durian, due to problems such as logistics and transportation, there are very few citizens who eat expensively, and the daily sales volume is very small.
From the opening of the direct port for durian imports to the present, Ge Weixin has witnessed the transformation process of imported durian from quantitative to qualitative change. Back 10 years ago, durian was only a "distinguished customer" in Qingdao's high-end shopping malls, and now it has become a "frequent customer" in the streets and alleys, there are two major changes, one is convenient logistics, and the intermediate cost is reduced; It is in this context that Dongfang Dingxin International Agricultural and Sideline Products Trading Center was built and put into operation. With the opening of the customs port for imported fruits, the price of durian from hundreds of yuan a pound has been reduced year after year. The affordable price makes more and more citizens "nostalgic". "Today, two cabinets of more than 80,000 catties of durian were sold out in the morning. Geng Quantong, a trader in Chengguo Fruit Industry, said happily that the average wholesale price of the first batch of durians from Thailand this year was about 28 yuan per catty, and the retail price in the market was about 40 yuan.
The first batch of durians arrived in Qingdao by air.
A single tree can produce hundreds of durians
"We have a cooperative team in Thailand, they are responsible for on-site picking, because of the difference in fruit shape and fullness, divided into A fruit and B fruit, A fruit shape is also more fleshy, the price is relatively higher. Zhang Baozhou, a staff member of Qingdao Hetong Fruit Industry, said that it takes 8 to 10 years for durian to bear fruit from planting, and the fruit ripens once a year, and a durian tree can bear hundreds of durians. The durian tree is almost 20 meters tall and can grow for fifty or sixty years, or even hundreds of years. Durians are generally picked from the tree when they are seven years old, and the temperature of the shipping container is precisely controlled, and they are about eight years old when they arrive in Qingdao. The trading center had previously communicated with the Thai Ministry of Commerce and required the local government to strictly control the quality, so the quality of durian transported to Qingdao was generally very good.
The skin of durian is thin and the flesh is thick.
Engaged in durian wholesale merchants, Qingdao Oriental Dingxin International Agricultural and Sideline Products Trading Center has gathered from less than 10 at the beginning to more than 30 now. Every day, there is an endless stream of purchasing trucks from all over the country, and Mr. Wang, a buyer who came from Yantai, stayed up all night in the car in order to grab the best durian. Mr. Wang "experienced a hundred battles", this time he took away 60 boxes of high-quality durian from Qingdao. "This year's durian is of high quality" has almost become a unanimous comment from wholesalers.
Yuan Ming introduced that as a representative of imported fruits, it is now the time for a large number of durians to be marketed in the current season. Among them, the Golden Pillow durian has a moderate intensity of smell and a sweet taste, which is deeply loved by the public. Entering May, there will be a large number of golden pillow durians arriving in Qingdao, and the price will be more affordable than now.
stretching
"Qingdao flavor" durian is out of the circle nationwide
With the increasing prosperity of the imported fruit wholesale market, tropical fruits represented by durian are popular among Qingdao citizens. In recent years, with the agglomeration and radiation of the regional fruit market economy, Qingdao has become the largest durian distribution center in Shandong Province. "At present, Thai durians entering Qingdao are transported by land to enter the country through Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam, and then transported to Qingdao, with a journey of about 7 days. After distribution in Qingdao, it will be sent to the Shandong Peninsula and even all over the country. Yuan Ming said that by May, more than 2.4 million catties of durian will be traded in the center every day, and half of it will be bought by Qingdao's local wholesale markets, supermarkets and fruit stores, and the other half will be sold to the Shandong Peninsula and other parts of the country.
Qingdao's convenient port, convenient transportation, two-way mutual aid, land and sea linkage at home and abroad hub advantages make Qingdao's international consumption radiation radius continue to extend. With the upgrading of domestic consumption, the role of consumption in economic growth has become more and more obvious. Qingdao Oriental Dingxin International Agricultural and Sideline Products Trading Center undertakes 40% of the province's imported fruit trading volume, bringing together special fruits from the Americas, Europe, Southeast Asia and other places, and the transaction radiates to North China. Eighty percent of Thailand's durians are sold to China, and Qingdao has become the largest durian distribution center in Shandong Province. "We plan to apply for a direct sea route from Thailand to Qingdao next year, when the cost of transportation will be cut by half, which means that the price of durian will drop further. Yuan Ming told reporters.
For more than 10 years, Qingdao merchants engaged in bulk fruit imports have basically changed hands from Shanghai and Guangzhou, which not only affects the freshness of fruits, but also has an average price of 15% more than that of Shanghai and Nanjing.
A regional first-class fruit distribution center is a huge engine that drives the local economy. At the end of 2013, Qingdao established the province's first and largest imported fruit distribution center, realizing the direct entry of "foreign fruits". In 2018, during the durian harvest period, more than 1,000 tons of Thai durian per day flowed to northern cities through Qingdao port. In the years since, this number has been expanding. Over the past 10 years, the quantity and price of imported fruits in Qingdao have undergone earth-shaking changes. Taking durian as an example, from the original only a few large supermarkets to sell, to now "blooming" everywhere, the price has also dropped from more than 100 yuan per catty to more than 20 yuan. Yuan Ming said that for more than 10 years of operation of Oriental Dingxin, the number of imported fruit categories and the volume of imported goods have continued to reach new highs, in addition to the continuous improvement of people's living standards and the increase in consumer demand for high-end imported fruits, the continuous improvement of supporting facilities, optimization of the trading platform is an important reason for its continuous increase in influence.
Source: Qingdao Morning Post