"Many Europeans believe that garlic can help strengthen their immune system. As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads across Europe, the European market demand for Chinese garlic continues to grow." This is according to manager Zhang, an important garlic exporter from Shandong, who recently gave his view on Chinese and European market conditions for garlic.
"Overseas importers purchased large volumes of garlic for a brief period in the last few weeks, but then began to slow down garlic import. Most of the garlic currently on the market in Europe was ordered one month ago. Recently purchased garlic is still in transport. Traders do not have much stock left. The market lacks supplies. At the same time, however, Chinese traders are worried that the spread of COVID-19 in Europe will create new problems in the international garlic market. They are worried that European ports will be unable to process shipping containers with garlic because the pandemic will interrupt normal procedures. Chinese exporters are therefore quite careful and hesitant to trade large volumes of garlic at the moment," explained manager Zhang.
"Russia and Eastern Europe are our main export markets. Although Eastern European ports are operating as usual, for now, our weekly export volume is limited to 15-20 shipping containers. Sea freight takes longer than land transport, and although the latter is more expensive, many Russian importers choose to pay extra for speed."
"Although overseas demand for Chinese garlic is recovering, the volume of garlic in Chinese warehouses is still quite large. The price of garlic shows numerous fluctuations in a brief period because the relation between supply and demand is extremely uncertain at the moment. In addition, traders are still speculating on the garlic market, which further inflates the price. Some suppliers fear financial loss and they deliberately slow down the sales speed. They keep much of their garlic in reserve until the market price improves," said manager Zhang.