China's apple exports have suffered poor sales and a drop in prices due to the Covid-19 outbreak in South-East Asia, which is the largest market for China's apples. According to Li Guoping, a manager with Qixia Lewang Vegetable and Fruit Company in East China's Shandong Province, export orders from Southeast Asia have dropped 60 percent this year, causing severe losses for local farmers.
Li estimated that the average annual output of a farm is 15,000 kilograms of apples and the costs - including labor, pesticide and fertilizer, packaging and storage - would come to 30,000 yuan.
"If the farmers sell the apples at the current price, there is little profit from their hard work throughout the year," he said. The higher output last year, the early hoarding by farmers and the export downturn have forced the prices to edge down, Li told globaltimes.cn..
Southeast Asian countries account for more than 90 percent of China's apple exports. Since the Spring Festival, the epidemic situation in Southeast Asia has again become serious, which has hindered the apple exports.
