The large-scale sorting of oranges
"Over the past two years, with the growing popularity of high quality oranges and a steady rise in the price of domestic citrus fruits, the volumes of imported oranges on the Chinese market have been going up. I expect the total import this year to increase by around 10% compared to last year," said Mr. Charleston Xiong, a high-quality fruit importer and distributor.
Workers busy with orange packaging
"We import Valencia oranges from Egypt and grapefruits, Cambria oranges, Lane Late navel oranges, Valencia and Midnight oranges from South Africa. We chose suppliers from South Africa because the orange quality there has been very stable and they fill a gap in the Chinese market when the domestic supply is low. Egypt is now catching up as our new source of supply. Orange growers there have improved their cultivation techniques to harvest oranges with a better quality after they saw the great potential of the Chinese market. So far, most of the oranges exported to China from Egypt have met the local criteria for imported fruits."
Mr.Xiong (middle) with his Egyptian suppliers
"This season, we are aiming at an import volume of 50 to 60 containers of oranges from Egypt and 80 to 100 from South Africa. The prices of Valencia oranges from Egypt were stable for the first 10 weeks, but have kept rising, starting from the 11th week. By the 14th and 15th week, they became too pricey for purchasers. In the meantime, the Chinese Customs raised the pre-tax price of Egyptian oranges, thus increasing the cost of tariffs and VAT. Considering such changes in prices, and the risks involved, we are likely to decrease the import volume from Egypt after the 15th week, unless the suppliers there stop raising their prices."
Oranges well-packed in boxes and ready for shipping
"As for the market: after entering the country from the port in Shenzhen or Shanghai, most of our oranges will be shipped to the Jiangnan Market in Guangzhou and the Haihuizhan Wholesale Market in Shanghai. The rest will be sold on e-commerce platforms. To make sure we have top quality fruits, apart from buying from reliable overseas suppliers, we also purchase directly from plantations on a regular basis. We have built our own mature and stable sales channels with years of effort. At this stage, we are looking for reliable orange suppliers in South Africa with their own plantations and factories and a minimum export volume of three containers per week. We hope more Chinese consumers will be able to enjoy the different flavor of oranges from South Africa."
For more information:
Charleston Xiong
Cellphone: +8613870411678
Email: charlestonxiong@163.com