This is the time of year when a variety of domestic and imported fruits enter the Chinese market in large volumes. Chilean fruit is among the many import fruits in the Chinese market, but stands out in terms of convenient supply season, stable product quality, and diverse product varieties. In addition to the usual challenges in import and export trade, Chilean fruit exporters also face the added risk of Covid-19. How will Chilean fruit perform in the Chinese market under these circumstances? Jack from SVA Fruits talked about current conditions in the market.
SVA Fruits is a joint venture formed by Hortifrut (50%) and Clemente (50%). Jack works at the SVA Fruits office in Shanghai Huizhan Market. He is responsible for the distribution of various top-quality fruits to the northeast of China, including Shandong, Hebei, Beijing, Liaoning, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang. "Our Chilean team is in charge of supply, processing, and export. The China office handles retail and product promotion. That includes repackaging the fruit products into smaller packaging types. At the moment, we mainly import Peruvian table grapes, blueberries, Chilean cherries, and apples."
Diverse packaging types for Chilean cherries
When talking about Chilean fruit, the conversation can not ignore cherries. According to Jack: "The 'cherry incident' last year created panic among many Chilean cherry growers and exporters. But in the end the Chilean cherry trade continued undiminished. Chilean cherry growers and exporters still enjoy a high return rate in the Chinese market, unlike other markets. The new season has officially begun, and the production volume expanded by 10% compared to last year. Chile supplies the Chinese market with roughly 20,000 shipping containers full of cherries. The season is still in the early stage and most of the Chilean cherries currently on the market arrived by air."
Jack continued: "The first 60 shipping containers of sea-freight cherries will arrive in Hong Kong on the 10th of December. That will mark the beginning of the sea-freight cherry season, when air-freight gradually gives way to larger volumes of cherries that arrive by sea. We expect the peak period of supply to last from December until February next year. The supply volume may decline around Chinese Spring Festival [1 February, 2022]. The most popular packaging types during the festive period around Christmas, New Year, and Chinese Spring Festival, are smaller bags of 1kg, 1.5kg, and 2kg. This season, however, is slightly different. Distribution fees are high, especially for air-freight. The shipping cost is around 6-7 USD per kg, or 30-35 USD per box. That is more or less the same as the cost price of cherries. That is why exporters reduce the volume of small cherries and mostly send large, and extra-large cherries via air-freight, to give cherry growers a better return."
Diverse packaging types for Chilean cherries
SVA Fruits promotes import fruits in a variety of ways. In the last two years they set up several retail projects, and they also constructed a refrigerated warehouse in Shanghai. The company team works hard to establish their own brands in the Chinese market. They sell cherries and apples under their San Clemente Dragon Fruit brand, and deliver directly to Costco, Metro, and other Chinese retailers.
"Most growers pay attention to production volume, but we care about product quality and product variety, such as the Kordia and Regina cherries. These varieties have a Brix value. We only harvest them when the color of the cherries is nice and dark. Although we are not the first in the market, we stand out in terms of product quality. We build our competitive market position on the excellence and stability of our product quality. Another advantage is that we came to the Chinese market in an early stage. We established our China office in 2012. We know the Chinese market inside out and have worked with Chinese partners for more than 19 years,' explained Jack.
For more information:
Jack Liu
SVA Fruits
Tel.: +86 159 2166 0639
E-mail: jliu@svafruits.com