Dali Winter Jujubes Hit Market in Summer, Fetching High Prices

On June 24, the High-Quality Development Conference of the Dali Winter Jujube Industry and the Beijing, Chengdu and Jinhua Production and Marketing Linkage Meeting were held in the China Jujube Cultural Expo Park in Dali County in Shaanxi province. According to incomplete statistics, through on-site contracts and the linkage of production and sales in Beijing, Chengdu and Jinhua, sales orders reached 386,300 metric tons, accounting for 77% of the annual Dali winter jujube output.

Dali winter jujubes are grown by three main methods: greenhouses, polytunnels and open-air cultivation. Those grown in greenhouses typically start being harvested in late May at the earliest, while open-air winter jujubes are not usually ready until late September. In the early summer, when greenhouse-grown jujubes first appeared on the market, they sold for approximately 160 Chinese yuan ($23.79) per kilogram, although they can now be bought for around 100 yuan ($14.87) per kilogram. The variety of cultivation methods means that winter jujubes are available for almost half of the year, providing consumers with greater choice. By September, retail prices are expected to return to normal levels of less than 40 yuan ($5.95) per kilogram. By November, prices may fall as low as 20 yuan ($2.97) per kilogram.

During the summer, Dali winter jujubes can also fetch high prices on the international market, recently selling for over $80 per kilogram in Dubai. In recent years, winter jujubes from Dali have been exported via direct flights to 10 different countries and regions, including Canada, Russia, the Netherlands and Dubai, and have received widespread praise in the high-end markets of Europe and the United States.

On June 21, a joint team composed of Dali County’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the Market Supervision and Regulation Bureau, the Forestry Bureau, the Public Security Bureau and other departments began conducting random inspections of winter jujubes, issuing farmers with the national standard manual for the production of winter jujubes. The manual prohibits farmers from selling low-quality winter jujubes that could negatively impact the brand image. It is understood that the inspections will continue until September of this year. Each day, from 5:30 a.m. until noon, inspections will be conducted across the entire chain of the winter jujube industry and markets to enforce standards and protect the brand image of Dali winter jujubes.

According to statistics, the annual value of winter jujubes in Dali County now exceeds 6 billion yuan ($892 million), while the entire industry chain is worth over 10 billion yuan ($1.49 billion). For seven consecutive years, Dali winter jujubes have been ranked among the top 20 public fruit brands in China, with a brand value estimated at 5.37 billion yuan ($799 million). With production spread across an area of 28,000 hectares and a total output exceeding 500,000 metric tons, Dali is the number one region for winter jujube cultivation in China, accounting for more than one-third of the national market.

Image: Pixabay

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