Dealers and cold storage providers stopped purchasing additional volumes as they were dealing with ample old stock in storage. The low prices spurred demand from South and Southeast Asia and export started to pick up towards the second part of the harvest season. Early varieties such as the Gala and Red Star performed particularly well in countries such as Bangladesh and Thailand. Prices of late apple varieties, including the Fuji, have been relatively high in relation to early varieties, and exports so far have been slower. Fuji apple prices did come 30% compared to last year.
Limited cold storage space
Parts of the new crop is still to be harvested. However, cold storage space in Shandong remains to be used to the maximum and available capacity is limited. This situation keeps forcing growers and traders to continue to sell.
Another effect is that farmers have postponed harvesting the remaining crops late varieties. This has had a positive effect on quality, brix levels and sizes.
Rise in apple export
Chinese apple exports have risen in 2015 compared to 2014. One of the provinces that has witnessed the biggest increase is Shandong province, a large apple producing region in the North of China. Domestic Fuji prices are also recovering from last autumn's low lever.
According to custom statistics, in December 2015, total apple export amounted to 145,000 tons. This is a 45% increase compared to the previous year. Apple prices were high in 2014 and export slowed down, which was still noticeable in the first months of 2015. Apple prices decreased over summer. On average, 2015 apple export prices ended 3.4% lower than in 2014.