"China: "Import fruit prices down as domestic fruit quality improves"

"There has been a phenomenon in the market for imported fruit in recent years where the production and trading costs of some products exceed the sales price. I think this phenomenon can be traced to the industrialization of agricultural industry in China. The level of plantation technology increased and every day there is another innovative breakthrough in the development of product varieties. Many varieties of domestic fruit have already matched and exceeded the quality of similar varieties of imported fruits as a result of these technological and innovative developments. 

Take for example the Chinese pear from Shandong and compare it to the European pear from The Netherlands and Belgium. Or take dragon fruit from Hainan and Guangxi, and compare it to dragon fruit from Vietnam. In each case the domestic fruit equals or surpasses imported fruit. The same goes for the comparison between pineapples from Taiwan and pineapples from the Philippines." This is according to Mr. Liu of the Shanghai Shun Guo Trade Co., Ltd.

"The development of China's domestic market for agricultural products has long been in a state of polarization. The retail volume of common, seasonal products is huge, while the price is quite reasonable. This is the case for fruit like bananas, apples, etc. At the same time, high-quality products rely on their exceptional product quality for sales at high prices. Overall, these prices are even higher than the prices of imported fruits, and Chinese consumers are very aware of this fact. Many of them pay particular attention to this price difference."

"The traditional Chinese Spring Festival is about to start and the popular demand for fruit will greatly increase. This is particularly true for imported fruit, because the Spring Festival takes place in winter, which is not the production season for most domestic fruits. For the price conditions, however, we must look at the actual conditions of supply and demand. It is not necessarily true of all fruits that the price will increase. Since the volume of demand is expected to increase during the Spring Festival, many merchants and suppliers already have planned an increase in supply. As a result of this, some fruits will actually become cheaper during Spring Festival. For most fruits, however, the price will increase as expected."

"This company was founded at the beginning of 2016. We also established a branch office in Qingdao. The branch office in Linyi will be open for business on January 28th, 2018. We sell fruit through traditional marketing channels as well as online retail methods. We predominantly select and purchase fruit in bags of 5-20 kg, and sell them through wholesale markets and high-end fruit shops in first- and second tier cities in areas in eastern China and Shandong province. At this stage, imported fruit accounts for about 50% of all our business. In the future we hope to gradually increase this proportion."