2018 looks like a very promising year for Chinese oranges. The problems with citrus greening disease have finally been resolved and the climate conditions have been suitable. It is expected that in the season of 2017-2018, there will be more than 7.300.000 tons of oranges on the market, which is 4% more than in the previous season. Orange plantations in Western China have produced sufficient volumes to fully supply the entire Chinese market. In spite of the increase in domestic production, imports of oranges are still expected to rise. There is a strong demand among Chinese consumers for high-quality oranges all year-round. Since the production costs and the market prices of oranges have increased, the prices of all kinds of citruses have increased, too.
In recent years, the center of China's orange production has slowly moved westward. Jiangxi Province used to be the main orange producing area. However, it's output has remained stagnant for the last 5 years, while the production areas in Sichuan, Chongqing and Guangxi have shown impressive progress. Last year, their performance exceeded Jiangxi.
The season of 2016-2017 has turned out to be disastrous for the orange production of Jiangxi. The plantations have been affected by the citrus greening disease and extreme temperatures. Experts explain that other places such as Guangxi and Hunan have also been affected by these factors, but Jiangxi has been hit the hardest by far. At this moment, the disease has already been stopped and the affected trees have been replaced. Farmers from Jiangxi expect that this year the trees will bring more oranges than before, but their size might be a bit smaller.
Source: iFresh