"The harvests of several citrus fruit varieties in Sichuan orchards are delayed because of the COVID-19 epidemic. The harvests are delayed by around one month. More and more visiting traders have arrived in the production areas in recent days to purchase citrus fruit. Our market sales are also slowly recovering." This is according to Manager Tan, spokesperson of My Rural Agricultural Science and Technology Co., Ltd., a company from Sichuan specialized in fruit export.
"The harvest of Baba tangerines was already almost complete in the middle of March last year. The harvest of Shiranui tangerines was also about to begin around this time last year. This year, however, the outbreak of the corona virus greatly delayed harvest activities. The harvest of Baba tangerines is not expected to finish before the first week of April, and the harvest of Shiranui tangerines may not be complete until May."
"The weather conditions were regular during this production season in Sichuan. The average product quality and the flavor of the citrus fruit are excellent. The delayed harvest will not have a great impact on the product quality of tangerines, with the exception of some overripe tangerines that will fall from the trees. There is a shortage of workers because of the COVID-19 epidemic. The price of workers increased by 10%-20%. The production and processing activities in our factory have completely returned to normal. However, we are still paying careful attention to market developments and changes in demand. We have not yet begun large-scale harvesting."
"As for our sales, the number of visiting traders that have come to our production area has grown in recent days. Our local government still provides free lodging for visiting traders. The current price of Baba tangerines in production areas increased to around 4 yuan [0.57 USD] per 0.5 kg. The market price is fluctuating heavily between 5-8 yuan [0.71-1.14 USD] per 0.5 kg. We operate online and offline marketing channels. Our sales volume through supermarkets and wholesale markets is particularly large. The distribution conditions have significantly improved in this area, but there is still a shortage of truck drivers. Other than that, since some express delivery personnel has not yet returned to work, not all orders are processed on time," explained manager Tan.
"Many farmers saw their fruit rot on the trees because they could not find retail channels during the initial outbreak of the corona virus. This is not the same for tangerines. Although consumers buy slightly fewer tangerines than around this time last year, market demand is still very high."
In addition to tangerines, My Rural also sells lemons. "The lemons from Sichuan already entered storage before Chinese Spring Festival [25 January, 2020]. Lemons sales have not really been affected. However, the market conditions were not great. The purchase price was only around 1 yuan [0.14 USD] per 0.5 kg and the market price also fell from 3 yuan [0.43 USD] last year to 2 yuan [0.28 USD] and even 1 yuan [0.14 USD]. Lemon sales to Chinese restaurants severely declined as a consequence of the COVID-19 epidemic. Many restaurants have temporarily closed their doors, which reduced our lemon sales volume. Export also declined. Not only did Russia close its borders for Chinese citrus fruit last year, but the demand from Malaysia and Indonesia has also fallen. Lemon export to Indonesia in particular has declined because the Indonesian government has not yet published the import quota for 2020. This severely affects our regular export to the Indonesian market."
My Rural has production and export facilities located in Sichuan. The surface area of their facilities exceeds 133 hectares. Their products are sold in 13 countries. In addition to tangerines and lemons, My Rural also manages the retail of honey peaches, apricots, and kiwi fruit.
For more information:
Tan - Manager
Sichuan My Rural Agricultural Science and Technology Co., Ltd.
Tel.: +86 13908046636
E-mail: 24390558@qq.com