In comparison to Californian cherries, the season in which the cherries from Washington will be available on the Chinese market is longer. There are also more of the latter because importers and traders have invested more energy. Since this week the cherries from Washington have been arriving little by little. They enter the markets in Shanghai and Guangzhou and other places, ready to be sold. Following increased supply, the price (for example 5kg of the Chelan cherry variety, standard 9.5R) has also shown a downward trend. While the price stood at more or less 640RMB (83.7 EUR) at the beginning of this week, the price had already been adapted to 490-530RMB (64.1-69.3 EUR) by this weekend. Even more, from next week onwards, charter planes packed with cherries will reach China, so with another increase in amounts, the price still has room to lower. Worth mentioning is also that on this Sunday the first batch of Rainer cherries from Washington, loved by everybody, are available on the markets. Because the quality of these cherries is in general pretty good, sales are still going smoothly, despite the opening price being around 700 RMB (91.5 EUR).
First batch of Rainer cherries from Washington, USA
Another product that has entered the market this week are the Californian Cherry Plums and Raspberry Splendors. In comparison to the sweet-sour taste of the Raspberry Splendor, Cherry Plum's flavour is sweeter and suits the likings of Chinese consumers better. The first batch was of a rather high quality. Sales are thus going extremely well. Small boxes (1LB/box) has been attracting many buyers, especially retail terminals.
Reflecting on this week's market for citrus fruits, Egyptian oranges have once again demonstrated bi-polar phase. This means that the citrus is selling very quickly because of the good quality and at a high price, but that fruit of a slightly lower quality are doomed to be sold at lower prices, decreasing sales. Moreover, this week South African oranges have also reached the market in increasingly large numbers, unlike the lower quantities entering the market in Guangzhou last week. This week South African oranges have also appeared on the import market in Shanghai. However, because of the generally rather poor quality of the imported South African oranges, and with the fruits being rather soft, prices are on average concentrated around 140 RMB (18.3 EUR) and sales are going slowly.
First batch of South-African oranges in Shanghai