A new look is seen in the fruit market during the autumn harvest season. A variety of seasonal fruits appear in Beijing Xinfadi wholesale market. The period around the Mid-Autumn Festival and the National Day used to be a busy season for the fruit market; however, the reporter recently visited the Xinfadi market and perceived the sales on the market are not good comparing with past years. The Mid-Autumn festival and the National Day did not boost the salesas expected. Some merchants even said that the fruit market has entered the “difficult time” in advance.

In the domestic fruits area, Mr. Yang, a retailer, is purchasing fruit. The reporter learned from him that the domestic seasonal fruits are selling well. Grapes, apples and citrusare popular and appeal to consumers. What’s satisfying is that, this year, the fruits’ retail price is generally about 1 RMB higher than that of last year.Xiao Li, who is busy atthe stall of Beijing Lianyou Shuntong Agricultural Products Co., Ltd., told the reporter that due to natural disasters, the output of apples and pears has decreased this year, and the price has thus increased.There presentative is the Korla fragrant pears, whose wholesale price of each package increased by 10-20 RMB. Madame Liu,the wholesaler said that the wholesale price of the Fuji apples from Yantai reached 7-8 RMB per 0.5 kg, thepeak of recent four to five years. This trend is fairly satisfying,while it’s adifferent situation in the imported fruits area: the sales are generally rather flat.

At the stall of Beijing Woye Ziqiong Trading Co., Ltd.,some people are picking blueberries. Manager Zhang told the reporter that since the fruits remain in good condition for at most 7-10 days,a small sales volume means inevitably losses. The soft blueberries need to be picked (and rejected) in time. The fruit industry has always been a high-risk one. Speaking of his recent loss, Manager Zhang still felt upset. The company imported Canadian cherries at a high price of 400-500 RMB per 5kg but sold it at a price as low as 200 RMB, with a loss of up to around 50,000USD in a short period of time. On reviewing the fruits market situation in recent years, Manager Zhang said that the over all sales volume has increased, but the profit remains the same:the average annual profit of Woye Ziqiong is less than 2%. "No compensation for anyloss, no profit is ensured." What Manager Zhang said represents the voice of the majority of fruit wholesalers.

Talking about whether the National Day would boost better sales, most fruit wholesalers said, “The market performance is flat.” According to relevant sources, take the past Mid-Autumnfestival for example, the sales volume is reduced by 1/3, or even up to 1/2,compared with that of last year. After the Mid-Autumn Festival,the market became rather depressed: besides the general reduction of the sales volume, the price decline worsened the situation. At present, South African soft-skin citrus,a hit product in the imported fruit sector, is on the market. However, mostwholesalers say that this year, the South African soft-skin citrus are in abundanceand at competitive price, nevertheless, the sales are not satisfactory. “Notmany buyers”, said by many wholesalers.Mr. Fan, from Ming Jinlong, also told the reporter that the price of South Africancitrus rose by about 10 RMB per package in compare with that of last year, but the price of avocado was somewhat lower than that of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Mr. Fan added that the fruit market is increasingly polarized; some fruits don’t sell well, while some are out of stock.Low-quality cherries are flooding the market, and their prices vary, while quality fruits are hard to find.As to the American pears and apples, thoes are insufficiently supplied due to the approach of the end of season.

The copyright of this article is belonged to Easywei Marketing & Consulting Co, Ltd.  Easywei is a leading integrated marketing consulting firm in China specialized in food and agricultural products consulting business, and used to work for ASOEX and OXEC Beijing to promote fruits from Chile and fruits from Peru.  For more information about Easywei, please look up our website: www.easywei.cn

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