Early-season kiwi fruit varieties from production areas in Shaanxi have already been on the market for more than 3 months. Now the mid-season and late-season varieties are also on the market. Manager Yang of Shaanxi Peng Shengda Agricultural Development Co., Ltd. recently talked about the market conditions and the prices in the Chinese kiwi fruit industry.
"Looking at the overall condition of the Chinese kiwi fruit market, we can clearly see that the price started high at the beginning of this production season, but continued to fall throughout the season. The price of red kiwi fruit and yellow kiwi fruit from production areas in Sichuan dropped by 60% during this production season. The price of kiwi fruit from production areas in Shaanxi dropped by nearly 30% this production season. The mid-season and late-season Hayward kiwi fruit has only just entered the market. Their purchase price in Shaanxi production areas is around 0.8-0.15 yuan [0.01-0.02 USD] per 0.5 kg."
"As for the product quality, the kiwi fruit quality this season is uneven because the kiwi fruit production areas suffered from unfavorable weather conditions. The size and color of the kiwi fruit clearly suffered. As for the production volume, there are numerous kiwi fruit orchards in nearby areas that entered peak production this season. For that reason, the overall production volume of Hayward kiwi fruit increased by 20%. There was excessive rainfall during the harvest season this year. Taking into consideration that kiwi fruit is difficult to keep in storage, as well as the overall depression in the domestic kiwi fruit market, it is understandable that buyers and trading companies with storage are not eager to buy kiwi fruit. We think that there is a real risk later this season of unmarketable kiwi fruit."
When asked about the reasons for the low price of kiwi fruit, manager Yang explained, "The product quality of kiwi fruit in north China suffered as a result of excessive rainfall during the blossom season. In previous years there were only two grades to distinguish the product quality of kiwi fruit. This year there are four grades and the price differences between kiwi fruit in these four grades is huge. Early in this season, online traders were willing to lose money on inferior kiwi fruit in order to get rid of their stock. Large volumes of third-grade and fourth-grade kiwi fruit flooded the market and seriously disturbed the market price."
"The price decline results is in a vicious circle. First, the low purchase price lowers the income of farmers who lose their profit margin. In the following year, farmers reduce their investment in production cost, but this directly affects the product quality of their kiwi fruit. In some areas, farmers chop down their trees in order to avoid financial loss, even when the trees have begun to carry fruit. This has a massive impact on traders and consumers." According to manager Yang, "companies need to practice self-restraint and governments need to oversee this industry in order to avoid this severe drop in prices and maintain a healthy market."
Peng Shengda Agricultural Development has orchards in Mei County, Shaanxi. The company also has 2 automated fruit selection lines and refrigerated storage facilities for 7 thousand tons of fruit. The company sells around 10 thousand tons of kiwi fruit per year. The main sales channels include domestic wholesale markets, large-scale supermarkets, e-commerce platforms, and direct sales from their refrigerated storage facilities.
For more information:
Yan - Assistant manager
Shaanxi Peng Shengda Agricultural Development Co., Ltd.
Tel.: +86 15353033558