"We successfully imported the first shipment from Chile this year, which consisted of 30 containers of cherries and 12 containers of blueberries. The shipment entered the Chinese import market in Shanghai on January 14th. Purchasing merchants from Beijing, Qingdao, Zhengzhou, Changzhou, Jiaxing, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen rushed to purchase our products, which we sell under the Disney brand. In 2018, we plan to import a total of 150-170 containers of cherries and approximately 40 containers of blueberries," said Mr. Yu of Shanghai Nong Fu Fruit.
Cherries packed under Nong Fu's Disney brand
Chilean cherries
"This imported shipment of blueberries mainly contains Duke variety blueberries, as well as Legacy and Brigitta. The cherries mainly are Bing and Lapin varieties, as well as Sweet Heart and Kordia. In the future, while we'll keep selecting varieties like Santina and Bing, with greater stability and greater quality, we may also bring in high-quality varieties like Kordia and Regina to satisfy the demands of high-end customers. Our products are mainly packaged as 2-in-1 in festive boxes. The plan is to have red tones represent the festive joy of the holidays, and merge them with the classical Disney cartoon Mickey Mouse. The 2-in-1 strategy makes if more convenient for fruit merchants to sell the customer an entire box."
Mr. Yu, the the left, together with Hermann Mecklenburg (on the right)
"The volume of the Chilean cherry harvest this year has strongly increased compared to last year. The export volume to China has also increased from over 4,000 containers last year to over 7,000 containers this year. As far as quality is concerned, the weather conditions in Chile were relatively good throughout the year. The growth of cherries benefited from this stability. The production of cherries increased, and at the same time the volume of berries increased quite a lot in comparison with the previous year. This comes at just the right time to satisfy the strong demand of the Chinese market for berries."
Purchasing merchants checking out the Disney cherries they 'snatched'
"As far as the price is concerned, the sudden increase in import volumes immediately pulled down the sales price of Chilean cherries on the Chinese domestic market. The good-quality fruit is currently at the same low level as it was in the same period in the previous year, around 100 yuan [15.54 USD]. Based on calculations, the price of cherries will slightly drop between January 20th and January 28th. From the beginning of January until the Chinese Spring Festival, the sales price of cherries will continue to increase. It will reach a peak around the 27th of January. The conditions following the Spring Festival are as of yet difficult to predict. That depends on the ability of the entire market to absorb this volume of cherries."
Mr. Yu, Foreign Trade Manager
Shanghai Nong Fu Fruit Co., Ltd.
Telephone: +86 136 6153 9405
E-mail address: lisa.zhao@nffruits.cn & 18801739217@163.com