What happened to cherry prices during week 4?

The week 4, The second half of the season was practically empty on the 23rd and 24th of January, due to the Chinese New Year celebrations that began on 22nd January. Sales teams began to return on the 25th, first to the Guangzhou market, and on the 28th, operations were back to normal from an operational point of view, although still with very few buyers. 

For context, towards the end of the week the market was opening in the range of 50 to 80 containers per day and with a movement of around 40-60%, which contrasts with the great activity that took place before the Chinese New Year.

At the end of the week, Guangzhou had not yet reached openings of over 100 containers per day, and in recent days it has opened between 60-80 per day and its movement was around 40-60%. Other markets such as Shanghai and the north were very slow. Shanghai opened less than 20 containers per day and its movement was around 40-50%.

In terms of volume, according to the Fruitonline database, there are 9 ships arriving in China with around 2,410 equivalent containers, and the ships Value, Charlotte Maersk and Xin Ou Zhou stand out with 29%, 21% and 17% respectively. (70% app). The volume to the port of Shanghai stands out with 54% of the total. 

During week 4, 6 main varieties accounted for almost 100%, and it is possible to see the clear dominance of Regina and how Lapins is already declining.

It is also worth noting that demand seems to have dropped most significantly in the northern Chinese markets, with varieties such as Sweetheart and Lapins being preferred, while Regina is moving more towards the nearby markets of Guangzhou in southern China.

During week 4, it was also possible to see that buyers are preferring smaller sizes and not so dark fruit, very selective in quality, and the 5-kilo box format is moving more, seeking lower costs versus the proportional cost of the 2.5-kilo format. This contrasts with what happened before CNY, where the preferred fruit was the 2.5-kilo format, large sizes and dark fruit.

At the industry level, some specific quality issues have emerged, but more strongly than before the Chinese New Year, especially in Regina, given the presence of internal browning, change in flavour and fruit with condensation in pockets, among the main observations. Quality is expected to remain good and stable until the end of the season. 

As for prices, given the holiday, there was little information during the week, and as of Thursday 26th more information on prices and activity in the market began to be reported. It should be noted again that these are only general reports of the Jiagnan wholesale market in Guangzhou.

Closing week 3.

Ocean shipment:

20-01-2023; GZ

Reference prices week 4:

Ocean shipment:

26-01-2023; GZ

27-01-2023; GZ

28-01-2023; GZ

For the remainder of weeks 5, 6 and 7, arrivals will total just over 1,300 equivalent containers.

For the week 5 Approximately 1,193 equivalent containers are expected, arriving on 8 ships, with Cisnes and Cautín standing out with 751 TP3T of the total cargo. Cisnes would be the last large ship of the season, since on its own it represents 571 TP3T of the volume, with 679 equivalent containers.