The Sino-US trade war is escalating, and this creates difficulties for fruit trade between the two countries. The cost price of US fruit imported to China greatly increased. The competitive power of US fruit in the Chinese market consequently declined. Chinese importers are therefore importing smaller volumes of fruit from the USA. They shift their attention to other countries. For example, many Chinese importers look for new suppliers in Turkey, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan.
The cherry production season has begun in these countries as well. Cherry plantation owners in these areas are quite pleased with the growing attention from the Chinese market. They all try to obtain permission to export to China. However, China has high standards for the quality of import fruit, and these are difficult to meet. The main competition is between countries whose cherry production and supply season overlaps with the domestic cherry production and supply season in China.
Another disadvantage is lack of experience in fruit transport to China. For example, the product quality of cherries from Kazakhstan is quite high, but that country lacks proper infrastructure for refrigerated distribution. Successful entry in the Chinese market requires investment in infrastructure. Some cherries from Kazakhstan entered the Chinese market this week. The cherries were air freighted to guarantee product quality.