The overall surface area devoted to tangerines in Sichuan has not increased this year, and the production volume is more or less the same as last year. However, the product quality is less ideal than last year because this year the production areas suffered from excessive rainfall. The sugar content of tangerines is not that high and the fruit peel often shows spots. The percentage of top-quality tangerines is limited. The return rate of customers is therefore lower than usual. Manager Li of Sichuan Myriad Fruits Co., Ltd. recently talked about the current conditions in the Sichuan tangerine market.
According to manager Li, the harvest season of Baba tangerines has just begun, and Aiyuan tangerines already entered the market one month ago. Many tangerine varieties are in a situation where market supply exceeds demand, because the product quality is less than ideal this year. This situation brings the market price down.
The purchase price of Aiyuan tangerines is currently around 3-4 yuan [0.45-0.61 USD] per 0.5 kg, while the purchase price of Baba tangerines is around 4-5 yuan [0.61-0.76 USD] per 0.5 kg. The price of Baba tangerines may increase later in the season, but only if the product quality improves. However, how much the price may increase still depends on conditions in production areas such as the volume of orders and the production volume.
"The Baba tangerine is a widely-consumed tangerine in China. The price of this tangerine grows every time the product changes hands. Take last year for example, the purchase price in production areas was around 5 yuan [0.76 USD] per 0.5 kg, and the wholesale price was around 5.5 yuan [0.83 USD] per 0.5 kg, but the retail price was as high as 7.5 yuan [1.13 USD] per 0.5 kg. Our main client group consists of large-scale supermarket chains.
"We sell to Walmart and Carrefour, among others. The smaller tangerines and the second-grade tangerines are sold via wholesale markets and e-commerce platforms," explained Mr. Li. "However, the average product quality of Baba tangerines is low this year, so we will have to wait and see how the market develops."
When asked about Sichuan Myriad Fruits, manager Li replied, "Our main advantage is the integration of production and retail. We have our own orchard that covers an area of around 133 hectares. Furthermore, we produce our own fertilizer and fruit baskets in our own processing factory. We also have our own distribution system, so that we can deliver our products to our clients immediately after the products are processed. We have reduced the number of unnecessary intermediaries, which allows us to control product quality and keep the price low."
For more information:
Mr. Li - manager
Sichuan Myriad Fruits Co., Ltd.
Tel.: +86 18328377868