The garlic harvest season began around the first of May in Jinxiang, Shandong. This is the time of year when fresh garlic is air-dried. The first shipping containers of fresh Chinese garlic had already left the country on their way to South America in the middle of May. Mr. Du Jiayi of Jinxiang county hopelong food imp&exp co. ,ltd recently shared his insights on the harvest and export conditions in the Chinese garlic industry.
Hopelong food mainly exports Chinese agricultural products to Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Americas, the Middle East, and Africa. When asked about the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on their export activities, manager Du replied: "Our export to Southeast Asia and South Asia was not severely disrupted by the outbreak of Covid-19. Some countries closed some of their ports and the speed of overseas orders slowed down, but other than that, the overall volume of orders remains high. Our export volume is more than 30% larger than around this time last year."
"The overall surface area devoted to garlic plantation expanded by 20% in 2020. Furthermore, the product quality of garlic is better than last year. The production volume per hectare also increased by 10%. The current purchase price of half-dried Taikong garlic from Jinxiang is around 1.5 yuan [0.21 USD] per 0.5 kg. That is much lower than around this time last year," said manager Du.
"We are still exporting large volumes of garlic from refrigerated storage to Southeast Asia and South Asia. The export price is around 500 USD per ton. Some of the importers from South America have already begun to purchase fresh garlic. However, the the garlic is not yet sufficiently dried as we are still in the middle of the air-drying season. We expect to start sending out our garlic in large volumes by the end of May," said manager Du.
"Garlic is an essential product in any kitchen. The demand from overseas supermarkets actually increased during this pandemic. Add to this the relatively high product quality and low price, and we expect the export volume to grow in comparison with last year. Furthermore, according to our sources, the garlic production volume in South America was not as good as last year. And the garlic retail season in Brazil and Argentine is also almost over. We therefore expect South American market demand for Chinese garlic to remain high this year."
Jinxiang County Hopelong food Import and Export Co., Ltd. has an annual export volume of 3,000 shipping containers. Some of the company products are Global GAP, BRC, SEDEX, and SMETA certified.
For more information:
Du Jiayi - Manager
Jinxiang county hopelong food imp&exp co. ,ltd
Tel.: +86 15054856072
E-mail: shaquille@huaguangfood.net