Pear prices were very good in the first half of this year, but with the arrival of autumn, the market is undergoing a major downturn. Take Hebei, a main production area, as an example. Due to frost last year, production significantly declined, so prices soared in the latter half of last year, and many stockpilers made huge profits. As many predicted, there was an outstanding market for apples and pears this year - crown and nashi pears fetched record high prices of 10-12 yuan/kg at the beginning of the 2019 season.
However, as the season progressed and the volume of fresh pears increased, prices fell sharply. The market for crowns, in particular, was sluggish, even facing risks of slow sales. They were sold at 0.4-0.5 yuan/kg, the lowest prices so far this year. Why did this happen?
The most important factor is the first round of large-scale purchases that took place in July when the new season just started. During this period, purchasers bought large volumes of pears, seeing the good market in the first half of the year. Unfortunately, they were met with challenges on the market, and crown pears experienced slow sales. Many purchasers eventually were forced sell their products at very low prices and suffered serious losses.
The market is difficult to predict, and purchasers are not in a rush to purchase more after having suffered losses. Moreover, crown pears are becoming available in large volumes, and farmers also have a lingering fear from last year’s experience of products being slow to clear. They do not dare to put the crops into storage and only want to get rid of them as soon as possible.
Pear is a product with high production; if there is excessive production with few buyers and many sellers, an imbalance in the market will occur. According to a survey, the current purchase price at the origin is as low as 1 yuan per kilogram, very low compared with 10-12 yuan/kg at the beginning of the season.
Source: Ten Years of Farming, huamu.com