The apple harvesting season is currently on time. However, due to the impact of the weather this year, the main apple-producing areas have been hit by extreme weather, resulting in a worrisome overall quality of apples this year.
High-quality fruits in the main producing areas have fallen by half, and these sources are few, but sources of general quality are greater. According to a report from CCTV Finance, the price of apples last year started high and then later on fell, which caused many distributors to lose out. As a result, fruit dealers were cautious in stocking up fruits this year, and their stock volumes declined severely.
Penglai Shandong is one of the main apple-producing areas in China, and it is now in a period of concentrated apple harvesting. It is understood that due to the impact of abnormal weather, the quality of apples in Penglai, Shandong this year is generally not high, especially the first-class fruits have been greatly reduced. Some growers said that the high-quality fruits were around 70% in the past, but now only 20% and 30%. In addition, many fruit growers said that last year the price of apples was high at an earlier stage and then lower. Many distributors who bought apples at the earlier peak suffered losses due to the decline in the price in the later stage. The number of transactions this year is much less than in previous years.
A person in charge of the export of apples at the purchase point said that due to the unsatisfactory quality of domestic fruits, in previous years, exports accounted for 50%-70%, and this year’s apple exports will drop to 40%-50%. On the one hand, market sales have slowed down, making dealers afraid to buy and store apples in large quantities. On the other hand, affected by the epidemic, many of the originally export-use apples have been influenced, and the export has been turned to domestic sales, which intensifies market competition, and many dealers choose to follow the market and export.
Source: Northwest Fruit Industry Info
