Domestic fruits such as watermelons, lychees, blueberries, and cherries have recently seen price reductions - why are fruits cheaper in the domestic market this year?
2024-07-09
The price reduction of fruits has become a hot topic among consumers recently, with blueberries being sold at a price of 50% off, Shandong cherries being sold at a price of 50% off, and watermelons becoming cheaper. A variety of fruits have entered the "price reduction channel". "The fruit shop I often buy, Qilin Watermelon, costs only 10 yuan per 5 pounds, basically achieving 'freedom to eat melons'." Zhao Cong, who lives in Qingdao, Shandong, told reporters, "I feel that watermelon prices have dropped early this year, with a unit price of about 2 yuan per kilogram. There is also a promotion of 0.1 yuan for the first piece of 250 grams of watermelon fruit cut in the fruit shop, which is cheap and delicious." Another person who shares Zhao Cong's feelings is Chen Siyuan from Beijing. "Not only watermelons, but also fruits such as mangoes, yangmei, and blueberries, which are perceived as a bit 'expensive', have varying degrees of price reductions." Chen Siyuan showed the reporter his shopping cart, which was full of fruits such as Hainan mangoes and domestically produced blueberries, with less than 100 yuan at checkout. At this supermarket located in Weishanzhuang, Beijing, there is a wide variety of fruits that attract many customers to choose and purchase: Qilin watermelon costs 1.99 yuan/jin, Inner Mongolia melon costs 4.99 yuan/jin, Jiuhongrui melon costs 2.5 yuan/jin, Feizixiao lychee costs 9.50 yuan/jin, cherry costs 9.99 yuan/jin, rhubarb apricot costs 2.88 yuan/jin, peach costs 2.99 yuan/jin, and ugly orange costs 3.99 yuan/jin... "Qilin melon is 30 cents cheaper per jin today, and a few days ago it was 2.29 yuan/jin," the supermarket staff introduced that domestic cherries are also cheaper, and now it's officially available. A large number of domestically produced cherries have been launched, and the cherries sold in supermarkets have decreased from a few tens of yuan per kilogram when they were first launched to less than 10 yuan per kilogram. Other high priced fruits such as blueberries and lychees are also entering the "price reduction channel" together. Blueberries, which once deterred many consumers due to their high prices, have recently taken a "affordable" route in price. Compared with the initial launch in April, the wholesale price of blueberries from Qingdao, the origin, has dropped from 70-80 yuan per kilogram to 50 yuan per kilogram. The Guangdong and Hainan "Feizixiao" lychees sold at Hema Fresh Store are priced at 25.9 yuan per 900 grams or 450 grams. Compared to the beginning of the month, the price has dropped by more than 50%. According to the monitoring of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, fruit prices have generally shown a downward trend since June. On July 5th, the wholesale price index of agricultural products was 114.23, a decrease of 0.55 points from June 3rd, while the average price of six key monitored fruits was 7.15 yuan/kg, a decrease of 0.16 yuan from June 3rd. In addition, watermelon, Jufeng grapes, and pear have seen significant price reductions. "The price reduction of fruits is definitely a good thing for us consumers." Chen Siyuan said, "But compared to price, I still pay more attention to quality. The local yangmei I bought at another supermarket a few days ago, although cheap, is very sour. Nowadays, fruits are continuously supplied regardless of the seasons, regardless of the north or south. Compared to cheaper and less delicious fruits, I prefer to choose fruits with slightly higher prices but good taste." Dong Chao, director of the Institute of Circulation and Consumption at the Ministry of Commerce Research Institute, told reporters that with the rapid development of domestic fruit planting technology, area improvement, and logistics cold chain, consumers' attitudes towards fruits have also changed, and enjoyment oriented consumption has become mainstream. "Many consumers have a mentality of 'preferring to bite a peach rather than a basket of rotten apricots', and this change in demand profoundly affects every aspect from planting to sales," said Dong Chao. Fruit farmers have both joy and worry about fruit price reductions. Fruit farmers have both joy and worry. "Today we picked 60000 kilograms, which is basically the last batch of mangoes this year." Lin Yiming, who is engaged in tropical fruit sales in Hainan, told reporters that since its launch in mid May, the average daily picking volume of mangoes has exceeded 10000 kilograms, and the current selling price is about 1.5 yuan/kilogram lower than when it was launched. "Although the price of mangoes is reduced, our mangoes are sold across the country through cooperation with e-commerce platforms, with a large sales volume and are very popular with consumers." Lin Yiming said, "This is the egg mango in Changjiang, Hainan. It tastes sweet and tastes like cheese. Every day, many friends contact me to place orders. In the rainy days, when mangoes cannot be picked, customers will place orders ahead of time." In addition to mangoes, there are a large number of passion fruit, litchi, pineapple and other fruits on sale. Lin Yiming said, "avocados will also be on the market soon. This year, we expanded the production of such imported fruit varieties, thanks to Hainan's unique planting conditions, The quality of the fruit is good and the price is low. It is expected that there will be a Dafengshou (Salad of assorted fresh vegetables)." However, Chen Suxia, a nectarine farmer in Dashahe Town, Fengxian County, Jiangsu Province, is worried. "There has been a lot of rain this year, and peaches are small in size and cannot sell at a good price," Chen Suxia told reporters. Her family has both greenhouses and orchards, growing multiple varieties of peaches, including Xinyi Baifeng peach, local peach, nectarine, and flat peach. "For example, Xinyi Baifeng Honey Peach has a wholesale price of 12 yuan per kilogram, and its variety is characterized by its large size, but it is not easy to sell this year due to its small size. When the cream flat peach was first launched, it was also sold for more than ten yuan per kilogram, but now it has been reduced to 5-6 yuan per kilogram." Chen Suxia said, "Look, I brought 10 boxes of peaches at 4am, and only sold half of them in the morning. Recently, the daily market volume of watermelons in Beijing's Xinfadi Agricultural Products Wholesale Market exceeded 2000 tons.". As watermelon is a fruit variety that consumers often buy in summer, although it is large in quantity and low in price, farmers are not too worried about not being able to sell it. "The wholesale price of Qilin ranges from 3.4 to 3.6 yuan per kilogram, while Sweet King ranges from 1.4 to 1.6 yuan per kilogram, which is much cheaper than last year, about half of it!" Watermelon merchant Jiang Lin told reporters that her stall can sell nearly 40 tons of watermelons every day. Zhang Yuelin, General Manager of Beijing Xinfadi Agricultural Products Wholesale Market, introduced that currently, the main production areas of Qilin Melon in the market are Tianjin, Jiangsu, and Shanxi. The main production areas of Sweet King Melon are Northeast China, Shunyi in Beijing, and Baoding in Hebei. The main production areas of Little Watermelon are concentrated in Shandong, Gansu, and Daxing in Beijing. Watermelons from Northeast China are also about to be launched. "This year, there is a large production of watermelons, and the supply is particularly abundant, with a significant decrease in prices. With the continuous increase in watermelon market volume in the future, there is still some room for price reduction." Zhang Yuelin gave a side example to reporters: since the summer, the demand for ice cubes in the Xinfadi market has increased significantly, and the ice making plant has increased its power, increasing the production and manufacturing of ice cubes, with a daily supply of thousands of tons. "Ice cubes are mainly used for the preservation of vegetables and fruits, which shows how large the supply of vegetables and fruits is," said Zhang Yuelin. The change in supply and demand relationship is the main reason for the price reduction. What fruit has become cheaper? Firstly, there is abundant supply. China is a major producer of fruits, with vast territory, excellent climate, and traditional cultivation, providing favorable conditions for the production and breeding of various fruits. Taking watermelon as an example, according to statistics from the International Food and Agriculture Organization, China's watermelon production has consistently ranked first in the world for many years, accounting for about 60% of global production. In recent years, China has continuously strengthened the seed selection, planting and promotion of high-quality agricultural products, resulting in improved fruit yield and quality. The changes in supply and demand further dominate prices. "This year, the supply of fruits is relatively sufficient. Cold storage fruits are cleared and sold, and seasonal fruits are gradually launched. Taking watermelon as an example, early summer and high temperatures have led to early ripening of open field watermelon, resulting in a significant increase in production and a significant increase in phased supply," said Dong Chao. Some fruits have seen a significant decrease in prices this year, which is also related to the climate. The late maturing varieties of domestically produced cherries have a harvesting period of only 5-7 days. Picking on sunny days can preserve them for about 5 days, while picking on rainy days can preserve them for only 1 day, similar to this year's lychees. Due to the relatively low rainfall in the main production area of domestically produced cherries this year, the suitable climate has driven their prices to stabilize and decrease. The decline in prices of fruits such as blueberries is related to the rise of domestic production areas. As of 2023, the planting area of blueberries in China is close to 1.155 million mu, with a yield of 525000 tons. Shandong, Jilin, Liaoning, Guizhou, Yunnan and other provinces have launched a large-scale planting boom. Among them, Yunnan blueberry has a planting area of 176000 mu and a yield of 105000 tons, accounting for 20% of the national production. Zhang Weiguo, who has been working in the blueberry industry for over a decade, introduced that climate is a major advantage in Yunnan's production area. Thanks to the climate, Yunnan blueberries ripen the fastest. Early maturing varieties can be launched around December, filling the gap between imported blueberries and blueberries from other domestic production areas. "Yunnan's production areas not only have increased planting areas, but new varieties with large fruit shapes, sweet taste, and early market launch are also being improved in other domestic production areas." Zhang Weiguo believes that the development of new production areas has brought about an increase in production, and the mismatch between production and demand at a certain stage will inevitably lead to price fluctuations. At the same time, the transition from trial planting to maturity of new varieties also brings about a decrease in prices, which is a necessary path for the development of each new variety. "As technology and varieties mature, the market becomes fully competitive." In addition, industry insiders point out that the price gap between fruits of different qualities is widening. On the one hand, it is high-quality and cost-effective, with good prices for new varieties, high prices for high-quality products, and high prices for large brands. Since the beginning of summer, the overall price of watermelon has declined, but the differences in variety, quality, and brand are still significant. On the other hand, it is low quality and low price. Live streaming sales have become an important sales channel, and more and more fruits are selling at low prices online. Several fresh fruit merchants have expressed that under the wave of price competition on various platforms, they need to continue to invest a large amount of traffic resources and subsidies for fruits. They need to consolidate the supply chain at the source, reduce prices, and also increase awareness. "The competitive logic in our industry is also changing, shifting from single price competition to multi-dimensional comprehensive competition such as price, service, and brand," said Lin Yiming. China has a large population and diverse demands, and fruits with high, medium, and low prices have their own value and target market. Regardless of the price, we must promote the high-quality development of the industry and make efforts to improve quality and efficiency Dong Chao said, "The price reduction of fruits is a major challenge for listed companies that mainly focus on fruit production and sales. Each company may adapt to this challenge through different business strategies and development directions, thereby alleviating the impact of price reductions to a certain extent. For fruit farmers, facing cyclical price fluctuations, how to avoid blind expansion and economic losses requires the operating entities to grasp market laws and arrange production reasonably." (Li Xinshe)
Edit：Lubaikang Responsible editor：Chenze
Source：people.com.cn
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