"The garlic in China is of good quality provided the warehouse calibrates well and the garlic is properly packed for export. In a year like this one can only work with the best packers, who know exactly what is needed by the various markets," Danny explains. Denimpex have worked for years with four warehouses, which specifically work with export destinations, such as Europe, Brazil and Russia. The export is coordinated by an office in Qindao, which also arranges sales in Korea, Japan and Indonesia.
"At the moment the market is in a change-over from the old to the new harvest. The volumes of garlic are very small and the demand from Eastern Europe will increase in the coming weeks, because of stocking up of garlic," Danny tells. The market in China is very unstable, because of speculators, who control a lot of money, but are not in contact with the real market. This makes it very difficult on the Chinese garlic market."
According to the importer packing factories never had so few orders for manufacturing 'cartons' over the last three years, which confirms his assumption that not much has been shipped so far. "The purchasing power of the speculators in China is very strong. They bought at the beginning of the season 30% of the harvest in three days. A lot of cash is required for that, knowing that the harvest is between 180 and 200 million tons."
According to the importer packing factories never had so few orders for manufacturing 'cartons' over the last three years, which confirms his assumption that not much has been shipped so far. "The purchasing power of the speculators in China is very strong. They bought at the beginning of the season 30% of the harvest in three days. A lot of cash is required for that, knowing that the harvest is between 180 and 200 million tons."
"However, do not forget that the local consumption amounts to about 100,000 MT per month, consequently the export market is not very large, whilst China supply 80% of the worldwide demand for garlic," Danny says. "The trade will be expensive
in a while and the risks involves are no longer in relation and therefore caution is in order, because of the large European harvests, where sizes are bigger than previous seasons. Also the fresh garlic cultivation in Europe has increased, which decreases the consumption of the normal garlic. Denimpex have redesigned their packings for the coming season somewhat for all products from China and expect the first arrivals of the new harvest within two weeks.
For more information:
Danny Deen
Denimpex
10, St. Antoniesbreestraat
1011 HB Amsterdam
Tel.: 0031 20 624 63 90
Fax: 0031 20 622 54 48