China is one of the world's largest potato producers. Production areas in Shandong recently officially opened the new potato production season.
Mr. Wang of Huizhou Agricultural Import and Export Trade Co., Ltd. analyzed recent developments in the beginning of this potato production season: "The first new potatoes from Shandong production areas have already entered the market. The overall production volume is more or less the same as last year. We have already harvested around 3,000 kg of potatoes. The market price showed recently showed a downward trend because new potatoes just entered the market. We expect the price to stabilize after the first of May. However, the current price is still higher than around this time last year. In addition, the price of leaf vegetables is also quite high this year. The high price of new potatoes and leaf vegetables helps to keep the price of old potatoes from storage high as well. Up until now, the high price of new potatoes is keeping the price of old potatoes high during this period of transition."
"The overall market prospects look good this year. The export market proceeds well and market demand is as usual. In addition to fresh potatoes, we also supply processed potato products. However, the outbreak of COVID-19 earlier this spring severely affected our export operations. Our supply of processed potatoes to Japan, for example, drastically declined. At the moment, we mainly focus on fresh potatoes. Processed potatoes only account for about 10% of the total sales volume. Potato export to most countries has been quite smooth considering the impact of COVID-19, but export to Russia, japan, and Malaysia has been limited. Japan closed the borders to slow down the spread of COVID-19, and this caused a severe delay in orders from Japan. Russia only allows around 10 trucks per day to cross the border and unload. The number of orders from Malaysia also declined because the borders are closed. At the same time, domestic market demand is actually quite good. Our domestic sales were not interrupted by the outbreak of COVID-19 and we also donated 500 thousand kg of potatoes to Wuhan. The cost price of transportation rapidly increased because of a whole series of pandemic-related factors, but the cost price of transportation has since recovered. Furthermore, the cost of postage is relatively low in comparison with last year, which helps to keep the freight fee down."
Huizhou Agricultural Import and Export Trade was established in 2005. The company has facilities that cover a surface area of roughly 6,667 hectares. The facilities are distributed among Guangdong, Guangxi, Shandong, Yunnan, and Inner Mongolia.
The company sells potatoes under their own brands "Butaitu" and "Ready-made potato". "We are working hard to become the largest supplier of top-quality potatoes in Asia. We are aiming in particular for overseas supermarkets and large markets. We are of course also very eager to supply other countries with an interest in our potatoes. We mainly export yellow potatoes. We can deliver them all year long. We have 4 climate-controlled warehouses that can store 30 thousand tons of potatoes."
For more information:
Mr. Wang
Huizhou Agricultural Import and Export Trade Co., Ltd.
Tel.: +86 188 3245 6577
Tel.: +86 153 5424 8188
E-mail: wangyukun@tudouji.com.cn