2016 Q1–Q3 Trade Summary for China’s Fresh Apple Exports and Imports

Recent data announced by the China Chamber of Commerce of Foodstuffs and Native Produce (CFNA) show that, from January to September 2016, both the export value and export volume of Chinese fresh apples greatly increased. The total export value increased by 55% to reach 990 million USD, and the total export volume increased by 73% to reach 871,000 tons. Meanwhile, the total import value of fresh apples to China declined by 22% to 98 million USD and the total import volume fell by 29% to 53,700 tons.

In terms of exports, compared with the slight decline seen in 2015, fresh apple exports in 2016 have shown continued month-to-month growth. In March 2016, exports reached their peak for the first nine months, with an export value of 160 million USD and an export volume of 140,000 tons.

Bangladesh, Thailand, and India still rank as the top three destination countries for China’s fresh apple exports by volume. The total amount of fresh apples exported to these three countries reached 308,400 tons, which represents a 35% share of China’s total fresh apple exports. It is worth mentioning that fresh apple exports to India in particular have seen huge growth, with the export volume increasing 378% to reach 98,600 tons and the export value increasing 256% to 107 million USD. This data is really eye-catching. The top five provinces for China’s exports of fresh apples in the first nine months were Shandong, Yunnan, Gansu, Shaanxi, and Guangxi. These five provinces accounted for 74% of the total export volume of fresh apples and 71% of the total value. Shandong province, which is known to be the biggest apple-producing provincein China, showed great increases in its exports. Both export volume and value took first place with large increases in each.

In terms of imports, after the large increase in import amounts in 2015, the situation changed in 2016. This year, China’s fresh apple imports have shown an overall decline. By September 2016, the total import value of fresh apples was 98 million USD, a decrease of 22%, and the import volume was 53,700 tons, a decrease of 29%.

New Zealand, the United States, and Chile ranked as the top three source countries for China’s fresh apple imports. Both import volumes and values of the major importing countries decreased compared with the same period in 2015, and those of the United States fell most heavily. The import volume and value from the United States fell by 45% and 37%, respectively. Guangdong, Shanghai, Liaoning, Beijing, and Zhejiang still ranked as the top five provinces for fresh apple imports by volume. Due to the location of fresh fruit designated ports, more than 99% of China’s imported fresh apples were imported into these five provinces. Of these, with a 64% share of China’s total fresh apple imports, the amount imported into Guangdong was far greater than that of the other provinces.