The Chinese New Year (CNY) is synonymous with bright red cherries from Chile, with the second biggest export number of this sought after fruit sent to this Asian nation this year. According to Andy Xie, an importer from the company Junli based in Shanghai, China, the pricing was higher just before their New Year. “In general the price was trending up and it was the same for the demand with the approaching of the CNY, especially last week before the CNY the demand and price reached a peak point."
Xie, with the company full name of Shanghai Junli International Trade Co., Ltd., provided an overview on the movement of the Chinese market, which opened only three days earlier after the New Year celebrations. “Because we had a later CNY this year, there was not too much left of the volume of cherries that are now in the market and the same for the fruits on the way to China, with most of the fruits from Chile. There is some inventory from New Zealand and Australia."
The Chinese New Year was much later this year than previous years. This was ideal for the Chilean cherries that had a slower start due to rain during their spring at the end of last year. "In general this year’s volume is almost the same as last season. But, the early part saw less fruits because El Niño and rain during harvest time. It’s hard to say if it was good or not for sales this year,” explains Xie.
He says earlier in the season there was a little bit of uncertainty on how big the Chilean arrivals in China will be. “At the beginning and middle of the season, everyone was thinking that the total volume will be big but less than last season, but finally the total volume was even a bit higher than last season for the China market over here."
This year saw the latest Chinese New Year in a long time, which helped to have a longer sales season. "The longer sales period helped a lot for the moving of the big volume before the CNY," concludes Xie.
For more information:
Andy Xie
Junli
Tel: + +86 156 1853 2923
Email: info@bestefresh.com