China: Pear Exports to the EU down 70%

"This year the EU revised its standards regarding pesticide residues on pears. An effect of this revision was a 70% reduction in our pear exports over the pear export period. There has been a slight rise since then, exports are down between 30-50% compared to the same period last year," said Mr. KouBin, of LiHong Fruits Ltd.

"In CangZhou City, HeBei Province, we have 3 pear orchards, each of which has more than 100 hectares. All of our different varieties of pear are shipped from the port of Qingdao to the EU, Russian, the Philippines, Indonesia and other south-east Asian countries. Our main exports to the EU are Imperial Pears, the processing period for these is up to 3 months, shipping normally takes a month and the sales period ends in May.

Gloria, General Manager Mr.KouBin and Snower, LiHong Fruits Ltd., a pear producer from HeBei Province.

Estimations of challenging 3 years.

"Although the EU revised its standards, the appropriate authorities provided us about a years notice beforehand, therefore giving us time to make the appropriate changes to our orchards and so minimizing unnecessary losses. Under the new standards, we had a smaller volume of orders due to the more cautious attitudes of our EU customers, but after a time, orders began to pick up again. However, this did have an effect on our orchards, as under these conditions our operations were not carried out at maximum capacity. Estimates are that in 3 years, after enterprises and growers fully adjust to the situation, the quantity of pear exports will return to previous levels."

Mr.KouBin
LiHong Fruits Ltd.
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