Chinese chestnuts are mainly produced in Hebei, Shandong, Hubei, Henan, and Guangxi. From late July to late October, chestnuts from across China follow one another onto the market, and the market usually presents strong supply and demand. How about this year?
2018 was an off-year for main production areas in China. Industry insiders believed that 2019 would be an on-year, and as a result, prices of new crops may not be promising. However, this prediction turned out to be wrong. Instead of the predicted on-year, this year is actually again an off-year.
According to industry insiders, production this year is less than promising. During the period between last autumn and this spring, many production areas experienced less rainfall, resulting in less fruiting. The volume of early chestnuts is acceptable, but there is expected to be less fruit in middle and late seasons compared with previous years.
Prices in general may be high this year but may fall in the long run. Currently, chestnuts from the south, especially from Hubei, are used in cooking, while most of the chestnuts used in roasting with sugar are from the north. This is also the reason why the overall price of chestnuts from the south is lower. For chestnuts from the north, after being purchased, they are mainly used for two purposes: roasting with sugar and deep processing. Prices for those used in roasting with sugar is high, but the volumes needed has been decreasing year by year, resulting in prices losing support.
Source: Yangguang Net