The seedless pomegranate is a large fruit with a thin, bright red peel. And the seeds inside are deep red like carnelian beads. That is why consumers love this fruit. Pomegranates taste sweet, their production quality is high, they ripen early and they can be easily stored. The seeds of the so-called 'seedless pomegranate' are surprisingly soft and can be eaten.
The seedless pomegranate has a history of more than 2,000 years. Production areas in Sichuan recently brought their seedless pomegranates to the market. Manager Liu, a spokesperson for Sichuan Bin Guo Agriculture Co., Ltd. recently talked about the current conditions in the Chinese pomegranate market.
The Tunisian seedless pomegranate has gained immense popularity in the Chinese market in the last few years. Wholesale dealers rushed to enter the pomegranate market. Fierce competition created chaos in the market.
According to manager Liu, "Last season for example, some farmers without proper knowledge of harvest technology went ahead and harvested their pomegranate early. This type of behavior creates confusion in the market because the product quality and price are unbalanced. This year, however, fewer traders visit the production areas because of the outbreak of Covid-19, which has somewhat stabilized the market. The price opened at 3 yuan [0.44 USD] per 0.5 kg and is now around 9 yuan [1.31 USD] per 0.5 kg, which is a regular price. I expect the market conditions to improve even further. The price started low, but I estimate the price will rise during this season, which is profitable for suppliers."
The pomegranate season in Sichuan begins in August and can last until the end of October. "Now that the outbreak of Covid-19 has been brought under control in China, our sales volume and delivery speed have recovered. And we are preparing for Chinese Ghost Festival [2 September, 2020], which is one of the busiest periods for pomegranate sales. Many customers purchase pomegranates and bring them as festival gifts when visiting family and friends. That is when market demand for pomegranates is expected to grow rapidly," said manager Liu.
"Some 'milk tea shops' have created trending products in the last few years. A number of popular milk tea shops promoted new drinks with fresh fruit, which had an important impact on fresh fruit sales. For example, the immensely popular honey peach Oolong milk tea stimulated the sales of honey peaches. Xicha and other milk tea chains are now promoting pomegranate-based drinks such as "Baqi Pomegranate" and "Pomegranate Duoduo". This is an important stimulus for pomegranate sales. I heard that one milk tea shop purchased a single pomegranate for 17 million yuan [2.48 million USD]. There are many milk tea shops in China and they are an important part of the fresh fruit clientele. Our production volume is relatively small and we have not yet considered selling directly to milk tea shops, but we sell to their suppliers."
Chengdu Bin Guo Agriculture has a pomegranate plantation in Sichuan that covers an area of 200 hectares. The company mainly sells to the domestic market. "We hope to expand our purchases next year. There are many pomegranate plantations in Sichuan. We visit them with our technical teams to support farmers and set up standardized systems for harvesting and packaging. This will help farmers unfair competition in this chaotic market. We also hope to expand our sales channels to include e-commerce platforms. We seek to cooperate with traders who operate according to industry standards. In this way we hope to promote direct purchase from production areas in Sichuan and build the Sichuan seedless pomegranate brand," said manager Liu.
In addition, manager Liu also talked about export. "Tunisian seedless pomegranates are a high-end market product. The product quality and flavor are outstanding. They are popular with overseas consumers in many countries. It is my understanding that small packages of peeled pomegranates have gained popularity. We are in contact with some overseas suppliers of peeled pomegranates and we are looking to open up sales channels. We hope to bring Sichuan seedless pomegranates to even more consumers across the world."
For more information:
Liu Wen - Manager
Sichuan Bin Guo Agriculture Co., Ltd.
E-mail: liuwen@b-guo.com
Tel.: +86 18628090302