The first new season persimmons hit the market earlier this month. This year's harvest officially began in Hebei, Shaanxi, and Taiwan at around the same time as last year. However, the market prospects for Chinese persimmon are not positive.
Wang Lei from Lei Lei Farms shared his thoughts on the current conditions of the persimmon market: "Looking at the overall conditions, this year the persimmon production volume is more or less the same as last year. However, the percentage of large fruit is bigger than last year because farmers took advantage of scientific management methods. Unfortunately, continuous rainfall during the harvest period had an impact on the product quality of persimmon this year. The sugar content is not as high as it was and persimmons from other production areas entered the market early this year. As a result of these two developments, the current price as well as their sales volume are not as good as last year."
Persimmon orchard
Persimmon harvest
One of the persimmon varieties supplied by Mr. Wang is the Yangfeng persimmon. This variety enters the market every year in October. "We spent a lot of time and energy to supply our clients with top-quality persimmon. However, market supply is excessive at the moment. And some people entered the market too early, which means that they are unable to supply top-quality products. As a result, the current market price is quite bad. The persimmon is not a common fruit in the Chinese market. Chinese consumers are not yet very familiar with this fresh fruit. When products of inferior quality enter the market, consumers lose their enthusiasm for this unfamiliar fruit. This seriously affects the market position of all persimmon traders who enter the market afterwards."
Harvested persimmon
"The so-called Japanese sweet persimmons that we supply come from a production area in Fuping county, Shaanxi. The overall surface area of our orchard is around 2.67 hectares. The average production volume per 0.07 hectare is around 2,500 kg. As the name implies, this product variety originally came from Japan and is quite sweet. The flavor resembles that of an apple, both sweet and crisp. People used to call this variety the 'apple persimmon'. The Japanese sweet persimmon developed into many varieties in China, including the Cilang, Fuyou, Yidou, Taiqiu, and the relatively well-known Yangfeng sweet persimmon. The texture of this persimmon is firm. The fruit is large. This persimmon endures transport and storage well. At the same time, this fruit has a low tannin content. The tannin content of this persimmon is even lower than the tannin content of kiwi fruit. This changes how people look at the persimmon and other traditional drupes. The persimmon fills a vacant space in the Chinese fruit market."
Packaged persimmon
For more information:
Mr. Wang Lei
Lei Lei Farm
Tel.: +86 159 6233 9393