In Qinghai, the harvest season of Chinese goji berries begins in the last week of August and continues until the middle of October. The export season generally lasts until January in the subsequent year.
"The outbreak of COVID-19 in February therefore had only a limited impact on the Chinese goji berries industry. Only a handful of visiting traders had to wait longer than usual for their orders to be processed. The products that we were unable to deliver because of the COVID-19 pandemic were stored in refrigerated warehouses until the markets recovered and we were able to deliver as usual." This is according to manager Liao, a spokesperson for Qinghai Yunjing Agricultural Science and Technology Co., Ltd. Manager Liao recently talked about the current conditions in the Chinese goji berry export market.
Manager Liao looked back on the retail conditions for Chinese goji berries last year. "The production volume in Qinghai showed an overall decline last year. This year the supply volume was slightly smaller than last year, but the retail channels were reliable and the price did not fluctuate much. The price of organic Chinese goji berries was 40 yuan [5.63 USD] per 0.5 kg, and the price of 'green' Chinese goji berries was 28 yuan [3.94 USD] per 0.5 kg. The prices are nearly 5% lower than around this time last year."
"As for export, we mainly export our goji berries to Japan, Europe, and the USA. Last year we exported a total of 90 tons of berries. Market demand for goji berries has not decreased, except during the Sino-US trade war, when higher custom tariffs pushed the export price up. US importers continue to order our goji berries. European buyers mainly import the smaller #280 goji berries.
"The price of goji berries is based on a ranking system, and the #280 goji berries are relatively expensive. The Japanese market has a growing demand for black goji berries. We started to purchase black goji berries last year to try and enter this specific market as well," said manager Liao.
"The overall surface area devoted to goji berry plantation in Qinghai is more or less the same as last year. The new harvest season will begin in August. The current conditions are excellent for the development of goji berries. The weather conditions in production areas are quite regular, but it is still too early to make an estimate of the size of the production volume this year," explained manager Liao.
"This year, while we continue to sell our dried goji berries, we also hope to promote our goji berry juice and goji berry jams. We are in negotiation with a number of e-commerce companies. In this way, we hope to reach a wider audience and give more Chinese consumers the opportunity to experience our characteristic and healthy goji berry products."
Qinghai Yunjing Agricultural Science and Technology owns a goji berry plantation that covers an area of 200 hectares. The plantation already acquired HACCP, 9000, and 'green' certification, as well as organic certification. The main problem we face with export at the moment are the increasingly strict standards for Chinese goji berry export to the European market. We are forced to use more expensive fertilizer and hire more expensive management personnel. However, we hope that the goji berries that pass the stricter standards for production and processing will be able to satisfy consumer requirements. This will help us bring the unique flavor of Chinese goji berries to consumers in even more markets."
For more information:
Liao - Manager
Qinghai Yunjing Agricultural Science and Technology Co., Ltd.
Tel.: +86 150 0253 6737
Tel.: +86 971 8224 563
E-mail: [email protected]
