Ugly oranges gain market share in China

The ugly orange, a hybrid of pomelo and orange recently gained a lot of consumer favor in the Chinese fruit market. Though their skin looks crumpled and not smooth, they are rich in antioxidant carotenoids and vitamin, which are considered very beneficial for beauty.

The price of ugly oranges this year is slightly higher, reaching 30 Yuan per kilo, and high quality ugly oranges in gift packaging can be sold as high as 158 Yuan per box (around 16 ugly oranges per carton).

Generally speaking, ugly oranges are mainly grown in Sichuan Province. Despite the fact that the overall plantation has increased compared to that of last year, they are still in short supply, as the new planted ugly oranges haven't reached the harvest time. Under such circumstance, as consumer demands to ugly oranges continue to increase, the price will inevitably rise as well.

Following the price increase of ugly oranges, other orange growers took advantage of this to market their citrus fruits as ugly oranges. These fruits which resemble ugly fruits are normally purchased at a much lower wholesale price.

How can we distinguish an authentic ugly orange from the others? In general ugly oranges are bigger in size, and on average one ugly orange can weigh around 200 grams. When peeling it, the fruits flesh is red. They are further divided into sour and sweet taste differences. The sweet version has thin skin and soft fruit flesh while the sour one has thinner and a rougher peel and relatively harder fruit flesh. Once cut, the ugly oranges normally have few or no seeds inside while the fake ugly oranges have more seeds.