By: Julio Ruiz-Tagle, Asia & America Manager D-Quality Survey BV.
In terms of volume, we have already exceeded the ASOEX projection for January of shipments of 80 million boxes; it is now estimated that we will reach close to 85 million, well above the number exported in the previous campaign (71 million).
In week three, the Guangzhou market saw very fast sales of containers with good quality, especially in the 2x2.5kg and 2.5kg packages, which sold very quickly. Unlike previous years, the 5kg packages showed a noticeable slower sales movement.
In Shanghai, during the days before the Chinese New Year, there was a relatively slow movement, the market was full of container volumes and many were quickly sent to other cities in search of a quick sale. The fruit in cold storage had less movement, even with some pallets that took 4 days to sell, the 2.5 kg and 2x2.5 kg packages were also those that had the best movement.
Now it remains to be seen how the post-CNY market will perform this year with the estimated 14 million boxes still to be sold. The outlook looks positive, at least considerably more optimistic than in the previous 3 years.
Varieties arrived in week 3:
As for varieties, Santina has been the leader in sales movements in China until week 2; in the eyes of wholesale buyers it is a reliable variety. Kordia, as usual, is ranked with the highest price.
During week 3, mid-season and late varieties such as Bing, Skeena, Lapins, Sweet Heart and Regina arrived.
Regina has presented good firmness, good color and a very low presence of pittingHowever, on some labels the problems from the previous season are beginning to become evident, internal browning of the pulp, which generates a particular change in flavor.
Sweetheart and Skeena featured a greater presence of pitting. Bing in week 3 showed generally low volume and good quality and condition with no notable defects.
In Lapins, some colour problems were observed, with very light fruit and dark labelling. This situation led to buyers preferring to buy the Regina variety rather than Lapins, which led to wholesale prices being lowered by 10-30 rmb per box. The main buyers were ultimately retail and e-commerce.
In terms of volume, the variety that saw the largest volume of arrivals this week was the Regina variety. The second variety that saw the most openings in wholesale markets was the Lapins variety, followed by the Sweetheart variety.
Future arrivals:
Regarding current and future arrivals, there has been less market movement due to the Chinese New Year holidays, where buyers will gradually return as stock runs out.
More containers are also expected to show condition issues, mainly due to internal browning at Regina and low color at Lapins. Buyers will be more demanding in their buying parameters, but sales prices are expected to remain stable at least through mid-week 5.
