"The export season of domestic pomelo from Pinghe county is about to begin in the last week of August. The price of the pomelo is key to exports in the pomelo market where competition is fierce. Many large suppliers find themselves forcing the price down to gain advantage in the export market. This means that exporters have very little room to make a profit on pomelo. The Chinese e-commerce industry rapidly developed in recent years and many domestic pomelo producers have reduced their export volume. They turn instead to e-commerce platforms to target the domestic market where the profit margin is bigger." This is according to manager Wang of Jiutai Modern Agriculture.
Jiutai Modern Agriculture mainly exports Peiyu pomelo from Pinghe county as well as a small volume of grapefruit. The company mainly exports to Poland, Germany, Belarus, and the Netherlands. "As for our domestic sales, our pomelos are available in Carrefour, Auchan, Metro, and other large-scale supermarkets, as well as such chain supermarkets as Lidl, Biedronka, and Dino. The quality-to-price ratio of Chinese pomelos is quite high. These pomelos are quite ripe, which makes them popular with overseas consumers. The overall export volume of Chinese pomelo from the entire industry is around 8-10 thousand containers per year. Chinese exporters focus on larger fruits and leave the smaller fruits for the domestic market. We expect the overall export volume to decline to around 6 thousand containers."
"The production season of Peiyu pomelo from Pinghe county begins in the middle of August and continues until the middle of December. The peak period of pomelo sales will continue until the end of January. The production volume of smaller pomelo in Pinghe declined by around 25% due to poor weather conditions. Provided that the quality can be guaranteed, we expect the CIF price of Peiyu pomelo to be around 650 Euro [719 USD] per ton. The price is slightly higher than last year," explained manager Wang.
"The overseas market has strict standards for import pomelo. The pomelo that we export have to pass SGS pesticide residue and heavy metal testing. The pomelo stay fresh for around 60 days at temperatures around 5° degrees Celsius. To protect the product quality we use environmentally friendly packaging for our products. Furthermore, the pomelos are protected by mesh and wrapped in a colored ribbon with a barcode. We also use standardized cardboard boxes and ship our pomelo in refrigerated containers."
There are many pomelo export companies in China. Market competition is fierce. According to manager Wang, "we must establish a Chinese pomelo export association and set a guaranteed bottom price. In this way we can create healthy competition in an industry with top-quality fruit and great prices. We can then improve the competitive position of Pinghe county in the international pomelo market and raise the status of Guanxi honey pomelo."
Jiutai Modern Agriculture owns around 267 hectares of plantations in Pinghe county and jointly manages an additional 400 hectares. All the pomelo from these plantations are Global GAP-certified. The company is also currently applying for Grasp certification. "We are focused on product quality and flavor. We prioritize our client experience. We hope to bring Jiutai-quality pomelo to a greater number of consumers and offer them the opportunity to taste the delicious flavor of our pomelo."
For more information:
Henry Wang - Manager
Jiutai Modern Agriculture Co., Ltd.
Tel.: +86 13685033992
E-mail: henry@chinajtny.com
Website: www.chinajtny.com