According to information from the main tangerine production regions, this year's overall tangerine production area has increased, so the production has also grown. High quality tangerines are sold for high prices, while inferior ones are rather hard to sell. This year's tangerine prices seem to be polarized: tangerines with a diameter of over 6.5 centimeter are sold for good prices, but smaller ones are not that successful.
Because the temperatures have been rather high, the early ripe Wenzhou tangerines are less sour, and are not coloring as fast, so the ripening time is delayed. The dry autumn has also influenced the tangerine quality. Coastal production areas have suffered from hurricanes as well, infecting some of their fruit with ringworm, causing it to fall down. Therefore, the amount of high quality fruit has dropped.
As there are differences in breeds and fruit quality, the prices are now polarized. The prices of high quality, early ripe breeds are now rather high, while inferior products have low prices, which are even lower than in the previous years.
Source: Agricultural Technology Newspaper