Mid-Autumn Festival [10 September, 2022] is less than two weeks away. Various festive fruit varieties have arrived just in time for the festival, including seedless pomegranates, Autumn Moon pears, and persimmon. The delivery volume of seedless pomegranates is rather big at the moment.
The delivery volume of seedless pomegranates visibly increased compared to last week. They are available at most fruit stands in Guangzhou Market. The pomegranates ripened 10 days later than last year, so the season has only just begun. The pomegranates have not fully changed color, and that has an impact on Mid-Autumn sales. The current price is more or less the same as around this time last year.
Another fruit variety that only just entered the market is the Autumn Moon pear, which also costs the same as last year. Fluctuations are negligible. Traders say that the Autumn Moon pear sales develop well. The heatwave this year did not affect the flavor of the pears, but they are not as juicy as usual.
Seedless pomegranate (left) and Autumn Moon pears (right)
As for import cherries, sea-freight cherries from the USA currently dominate the market. There is also a small supply volume of Canadian cherries, but the delivery volume is smaller than last year. One trader explained that the delivery volume of sea-freight cherries from the USA declined by 50% compared to last year, and the percentage of spoiled fruit is much higher than usual. The small delivery volume has pushed the price up. Last year the price was around 300-400 yuan [43.81-58.14 USD], but this year the price exceeds 500 yuan [73.01 USD], which is an increase of 30%-50%. This week the price increased slightly compared to last week. The product movement of top-quality cherries is better, but the overall performance is not great. One trader blamed the weak consumer market for this situation.
Import oranges
The market conditions of imported South African oranges improved compared to last week. The price of Cambria oranges is stable and barely declined in the last few weeks. The price of import apples is also stable and the product movement of import apples is smooth. The gift boxes of some larger brands sold quicker in the last few weeks as clients are preparing for Mid-Autumn Festival. In addition, import kiwi fruit from New Zealand sells well too.
New Zealand kiwi fruit
Import apples
The market for Vietnamese dragon fruit is not great at the moment. One trader explained that many neighboring production areas supply dragon fruit directly to their Chinese business partners, so there is less demand for dragon fruit in first-tier wholesale markets. That dampened the entire wholesale market for dragon fruit. (Photo right: Xinjiang plums)
Guangzhou Market also offers a variety of domestic fruits. There are gift boxes with domestic apples for sale. The main domestic fruit varieties on offer are Shine Muscat green grapes and Xinjiang plums. One trader said that product movement is slightly better than last week, but not by much. The impact of Mid-Autumn Festival is not yet visible. The delivery volumes of Shine Muscat green grapes and Xinjiang plums is much larger this year than last year.