According to Steven Leung, of the Chinese company Alfa Fruit Packers, apple prices in China have been skyrocketing this year. “Last year, I believe 70% of the apples were placed in cold storage by producers, driving prices up; furthermore, about 80% of the harvest last year consisted of large sizes. This year, about 50% of the crops are in cold storage and exports have almost completely stopped.”"For instance, in India, for every 100 containers of apples imported only 1 is Chinese, and this is a direct result of the high prices. At Alfa Packers, only 10% of our sales used to be domestic and the other 90% went to exports. Now it has changed to 40% domestic and 60% exports,” he affirms.
Mr Leung states that his company hopes China will learn from this experience and not keep the apples in storage next season, and if this was the case, prices could drop a little. He assures that “Keeping the fruit in storage also brings other problems. For us, it means that 25% of the fruit will present quality issues.”
As for the coming months, “I believe that the price of Chinese Fuji apple needs to come down. The export season should end in early June, after which time we will focus on the domestic market, which involves fewer risks,” concludes Steven Leung.
For more information:
Steven Leung
Alfa Fruit Packers
Tel: 0086-186-532-23-686