After the weather turned cold, the prices for some citrus products started to change dramatically. For example, sugar oranges that hadn't been covered before the frost came turned into "low-cost fruits" in a moment. Their price has decreased from 4-5 yuan per kilo to 3.6 yuan per kilo. The Sugar oranges that had been covered in time have turned into "premium fruits". Their price has jumped to 8 yuan per kilo and higher. However, only a very small number of citrus farmers are willing to sell them now.
At this moment, the weather is having a great impact on the fruit market: both good and poor-quality oranges are presented, the difference in prices is huge and the supply of fresh oranges has stopped. Only 1/5 of fruits were covered at the Guanxi cultivation area. Based on these statistics, experts don't expect that citrus farmers will be able to sell their oranges at the same price as they used to in the previous years, at least not before the Spring Festival.
Another important factor this year is a rapidly increasing online trade. A lot of internet stores have acquired a small amount of citrus from the producing areas and are selling them at the very high price. All of this brings certain pessimism to the offline markets. The customers are becoming more rational in their choice, they are not willing to buy poor-quality oranges, which makes the situation very difficult for the producers. Given the current situation in the production areas, the future of citrus sales might be tough.
Source: iFresh