Late apples in 2019 had a bumper harvest. Affected by weather conditions in the early season, apples ripened later in most production areas. Traders didn’t actively make purchases and prices stayed at a low level. Farmers were forced to put their harvest into storage, resulting in high pressure on storage apples.
The storage volume is much higher than in previous years. Moreover, most of the stock comes from farmers, accounting for 60% to 70%. This situation continued to its breaking point prior to the Spring Festival where farmers sold their products in discounted prices and traders began to actively trade in the market. The traded volume increased, and the pressure on the storage has eased to some extent.
At present, apples are experiencing slow sales across China, both in the production areas and wholesale markets. There is more supply than demand, and prices are falling once again.
Some long-term suppliers in the market are still able still to ship, but large volumes are with farmers. Without the participation of wholesale markets and traders, even if consumers want to buy apples, there’s nowhere that sells them. In the meanwhile, farmers who have no way of selling their products, are having to wait and see what happens next.
Source: WEMP