After the Spring Festival, many wholesalers at the Zhengzhou Wanbang Fruit Wholesale Market who purchased large volumes before the holiday had to sell their products at discounted prices due to the large inventory and the fact that the fruits are not easy to store. In recent days, the fruit market has been quietly picking up. There are even times when a queue was formed to buy fruit and a whole container is cleared within an hour. So what is the fruit market really like at the moment?
Price of some products halved during the Spring Festival
Increased trade over recent days contributed to a more active market
At Chenshi Sunshine Fruits, many customers are purchasing fruits such as cherry, kiwi, strawberry, and banana, and are constantly making pricing inquiries in the store. Chen Na, manager of Sunshine Fruits, said: "We were also open during the Spring Festival, but the business was very poor, and it’s definitely much better these days."
The Spring Festival is traditionally a peak season for fruit sales, so many traders stock up before the holiday. "We stocked a lot of volumes, but as everyone was staying at home and we suddenly had no customers. Many fruit stores were closed as well, so sales dwindled by two-thirds, and we had large volumes of unsold products.” Chen Na said that as fruit is not easy to store, they are forced to sell at a loss at reduced prices. Compared with previous years, the price has reduced by half.
Although the market is picking up there is a shortage of trucks and labor
According to Mr. Ding, a trader, in the past two days, the volumes purchased by traders before the Spring Festival have largely been cleared, and the market has started to pick up. However, due to poor logistics, the volume of new fresh produce arrivals is very small. In addition to the scarcity of trucks, there is also a significant shortage of labor. “We normally have a staff of more than 200 people, but now we only have more than 40 people, so there is obviously not enough manpower.” Chen Na said.
Source: news.hnr.cn