Chinese Apple Export Volume Up 1.9% in 2021

According to a recent report from the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Foodstuffs, Native Produce and Animal By-Products, China exported 1.078 million metric tons of fresh apples worth $1.43 billion in 2021, representing an increase of 1.9% in volume and a decrease of 1.4% in value compared with last year. The drop in export value was largely attributable to relatively low prices for Chinese apples during the second half of 2021.

Owing to the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on global trade, China’s fruit exports in 2021 displayed an 8.3% decrease in volume and a 14.9% decrease in value compared with 2020, totaling 3.55 million metric tons and $5.43 billion, respectively. As the top-performing fruit export category, fresh apples accounted for 30% and 26% of all fruit exports from China in terms of volume and value, respectively. The top five overseas destinations for Chinese fresh apples in 2021 in descending order of export value were Vietnam ($300 million), Thailand ($210 million), the Philippines ($200 million), Indonesia ($190 million) and Bangladesh ($190 million). The export volumes to Vietnam and Indonesia recorded year-on-year (YOY) increases of 12.6% and 19.4%, respectively, while that to the Philippines declined by 4.5% with respect to 2020. Meanwhile, the export volumes to Bangladesh and Thailand remained essentially the same as last year.

Six provinces accounted for 93.6% of total apple exports in terms of volume in 2021, namely, Shandong (655,000 metric tons, +6% YOY), Yunnan (187,000 metric tons, −7% YOY), Gansu (54,000 metric tons, +2% YOY), Liaoning (49,000 metric tons, −15% YOY), Shaanxi (37,000 metric tons, −10% YOY) and Henan (27,000 metric tons, +4% YOY).

Meanwhile, China also imported approximately 68,000 metric tons of fresh apples in 2021, a year-on-year decrease of 10.5%. The total value of these imports was $150 million, a year-on-year increase of 9.0%. As China’s largest apple supplier, New Zealand shipped 39,000 metric tons (−7.6% YOY) or $110 million (+16% YOY) of fresh apples to China in 2021. It is also worth noting that imports of fresh apples from South Africa registered a substantial increase of 64% compared with 2020.

Image: Pixabay

This article was translated from Chinese. Read the original article.