May is an important month for the production areas to clean out their reserves. Seasonal fruit gradually enters the market and temperatures increase. The frequency of plant and insect diseases in refrigerated fruit warehouses also increases, so the product quality of fruit decreases. The lease on most storage units also runs out by the end of May. That is why May has become a month in which fruit traders generally try to clean out their reserves.
Shaanxi apples
This year however, the remaining volume of apples in reserve was much greater than last year. The lease on storage units was almost universally extended because fruit traders still had much stock in reserve. Fruit farmers from Xianyang and Weinan basically cleaned out their reserves, but fruit farmers in Yan'an and Luochuan still have much stock in reserve. The main reasons for this development are as follows: first, the entire province suffered from a cold spell when the fruit trees were in bloom. The production volume decreased and both fruit farmers and fruit traders are somewhat unwilling to sell under current market conditions; secondly, the consumer market conditions are not great. Fruit from refrigerated storage has a difficult time competing with the wide variety of high-quality, low-priced, fresh seasonal fruits.
Kiwi fruit storage was basically cleaned out by the beginning of May, although some areas still have relatively large reserves because their products became unmarketable. Production areas report that market conditions were not great in May. The price dropped to the lowest point in several years and in many areas the price of kiwi fruit from refrigerated storage dropped below the cost price.
Source: Shaanxi Fruit Industry Bureau