“Avocados from Peru are gaining popularity and are doing quite well. Export to China has only started this season, and demand has been reasonably strong. The avocados are firstly shipped to Shanghai, from where they are distributed across China. Besides these two products, there are no other particular products that are providing traction. This season, the overall import market has performed worse than last year.”
Odd lemon market
“Citrus in general is currently not so popular. Perhaps because the weather in parts of China has been cooler than normal. In addition, sales margins on US citrus are low; the purchasing price is high and close to local sales prices. The lemon market is acting particularly odd. The Chinese domestic lemon crop is almost coming to an end. However, demand for South African lemons has been very low, and South Africa is the only alternative supplier. The South African lemon crop is selling at lower prices than last season. To me, this is a strange situation, and I have no clear explanation. Perhaps a bigger part of the crop is sent to local markets within China directly, without passing the Guanzhou import market. There are a number of airports that carry licenses which allows them to import certain fresh produce from abroad directly. For example, Chilean cherries can be directly shipped to the local Zhengzhou airport.”
South African citrus to pick up in later weeks
“Sellers are confident in the South African citrus export season. Currently, it is the start of the season and the start of the new crop. The quality is not great. However, throughout the weeks, the weather within China will improve, and the quantity and quality of South African supply should improve too.”
