"China: "The winter peach market was in a slump last year"

"Winter peaches have always received a warm welcome in the market. This is because of their large size, crisp sweetness, abundant harvest, and their ability to withstand being stored, as well as their maturation late in the season. All these qualities give winter peaches a special character. We carry out qualitative upgrades of our plantation technology as well as quantitative expansions of our plantation surface area to improve our ability to satisfy consumer demand in the winter peach market. While we have effectively extended the supply period of winter peaches, we have also greatly increased our overall production volume." This is according to Zhao Rongliang, chair of the board of Linyi City Lanshan District Yunduo Specialized Crop Plantation Farmer Cooperation, who spoke with an interviewer from Fresh Plaza. B.V.

"The greatest risk for winter peaches during their ripening period comes from weather conditions. We utilize plantation and cultivation technology to strengthen the soil and guarantee production volume. We have employed this technology in three plantation and supply seasons. As a result of these high-grade measures our winter peach supply season begins as early as June and lasts until October."

"The winter peach market was in a slump last year. The overall price was far from ideal. The main reason for this development was the relatively large rainfall in October last year. These weather conditions affected a large portion of the winter peach harvest. The taste was poor and the fruit suffered from split skin. The high-quality winter peaches, however, still maintained a reasonable retail price. In the last few years, the surface area devoted to winter peach plantations throughout the country has expanded at a fast pace. Still, the volume of high-quality winter peaches is not that large, because the period it takes to set up management for new plantations is relatively long, there are quite a few uncontrollable risks, and it is difficult to properly apply fertilizer."

"Currently, our company owns more than 2,133 hectares of standardized peach orchards that we established in 13 provinces, cities, and autonomous regions. 800 hectares of those orchards are newly established. We established a new, high-quality winter peach orchard of 133 hectares in Chengkou County, Chongqing City. We expect this orchard to produce its first harvest of around 7,500 kg per hectare in 2019. And we expect the orchard to reach full production volume in 2020. We sell our winter peaches in medium- and high-end supermarkets such as the Pagoda and Yonghui Superstores under our own registered labels 'Langye red honey' and 'Xiao Lan Da Shan'."

Zhao Rongliang (chair of the board)