Chinese imports and exports were hindered by a number of factors, including the rising price of shipping, backlogs in destination ports, the appreciation of the Chinese yuan, US dollar inflation, and recurring outbreaks of Covid-19. Many agricultural products face serious obstacles in the export market this year. Mr. Wang Junjie, sales manager at Jining Shangzhuo Food Co., Ltd., recently talked about market conditions for garlic and onions.
The period in which traders stock their warehouses with garlic is almost over. Farmers still have quite a lot of garlic in their possession, but the garlic that is poorly kept is already sprouting. The price of garlic is again falling, after a brief increase. The FOB price of 5.0cm, 5.5cm, and 6.0cm (standard 10kg bags) from China to Rotterdam is around 1,200 USD. That is slightly cheaper than a few weeks ago.
According to Mr. Wang: "The overall shipping price is still rising. In the period between the 15th and the 30th of August, shipping between Qingdao and Felixstowe in the UK costs around 15,000-16,000 USD per container. A calculation of the individual cost comes down to around 680 USD per ton."
As for Chinese ginger, the price is slightly lower than two months ago. The current FOB price from Qingdao to Rotterdam is around 1,350 USD per ton.
Apart from the extraordinarily high cost of shipping, another disadvantage for Chinese ginger export is the low price of Brazilian and Thai ginger. And the appreciation of the Chinese yuan also makes Chinese ginger less attractive for overseas importers. All of these factors create a situation in which overseas demand for Chinese ginger is weak. There are barely any traders from Europe and North America who inquire after prices of Chinese ginger.
The situation in the onion market is different. The FOB price of yellow onions shipped from Qingdao to Rotterdam is currently around 300 USD per ton. Processing factories and exporters mainly purchase onions in Gansu. The weather conditions there were excellent this season, so the onion production volume increased. Gansu is an important producer of onions in China. The weather and the soil conditions suit onion plantation well. The onion production volume in Gansu is huge, the product quality excellent, and the onions are popular with overseas buyers.
"The added value of onions is not high, and the rising shipping cost is an obstacle for onion export. We have recently only exported a small volume of #35-50 onions for a factory price of 550 USD per ton. That is more expensive than last year. Onions with an appearance that is less than ideal are often purchased by processing factories who turn them into diced onions. The shelf life of frozen onion dices is quite long, so the price fluctuations in this market are smaller. That is why some restaurants recently switched to frozen onion dices instead of fresh onions."
Jining Shangzhuo Food is a company specialized in the export of garlic, ginger, and onions. The company has an annual export volume of 2,000 containers.
For more information:
Mr. Wang Junjie - Sales manager
Jining Shangzhuo Food Co., Ltd.
Website: www.shangzhuofood.com
E-mail: wangjunjie@shangzhuofood.com