"I visited the vineyards and packing houses personally in Peru to find some qualified suppliers. Then I visited Chile to check the cherry and blueberry situation there and source suppliers too".
For Mr Li it was also a trip of discovery, getting acquainted with fruits from Peru and Chile, and to make more direct contacts, as well as shipping experience in cherry and grapes.
Chilean Cherries have now become one of the most popular fruits for Chinese New Year, more and more Chinese like this fruit and send it as a gift during the Festival. This year Chinese New Year comes two weeks earlier, normally large volumes of cherries are sent by ship starting in mid December, with five weeks transit time the cherries would arrive too late for the New Year celebrations. According to Mr Li, three direct vessels loading only cherries from Chile are planned to arrive at Shanghai and Hongkong around Jan 15, which will bring the majority of the cherries just in time for the celebrations. Air shipments also will bring a small quantity for the Chinese New Year celebrations but at a higher cost.
The earliest harvest of domestic cherries will be even more expensive than Chilean ones. Chilean Cherry production has increased and it's estimated 7 m cartons of cherries will be harvested this year. There will be more cherries arriving on the Chinese market after CNY than before, then price of cherries will be quite low.
Mr Li explains that the Chilean cherries are popular at this time in China because the bright red hues match the good luck colors and Chilean cherries sweet taste are very popular among Chinese consumers.
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