The season to harvest red Fuji apples has just arrived. The picking in Shanxi and Shandong will be finished soon. The current market performance of the early-ripe varieties shows a decrease in the prices of Gala, Red General and Red Star. Taking all the factors into consideration, the overall market prices of red Fuji this season are expected to remain the same as last year, or to slightly fall, with the trend to remain low as sales go on. And it isn't just the sales prices that are relatively low; buyers are expected to be more particular about the quality of apples.
The overall crop this year is slightly higher than last year. Regionally, Shandong has a lower crop, and Shanxi remains at the same level as last year, while the crop from Liaoning and Shanxi has increased. Pricewise, the price at the beginning of the season won't be higher than last year; it's likely to fall over time and produce a polarization in prices for apples of great and poor quality.
The reason behind such a trend is that with no great improvement of the economic environment and a higher crop than last year, the price of the apples won't go up. At the beginning when the apples enter the market, the price will be slightly higher than normal, but later when there is more supply, the growers will lower their prices to get rid of the stock. When consumers notice the differences between apples of good and poor quality, they tend to buy the good ones, which drives the prices of these apples higher, while the prices of low quality ones keep falling.
Source: fruit service center