GWM China Fruit Import Update: Cherries, Week 1/2016

The market’s focus remains on Chilean produce, most notably cherries! Week 1 saw another dramatic increase of volume focused on the south of China, with less volumes arriving in the eastern and northern regions. Along with Chilean summer fruit Peruvian Red Globe also saw larger arrivals testing the market somewhat. Overall movement in the market remains positive, but will be tested as we approach Chinese New Year! The cherry market continued to keep both buyers and sellers on their toes with another large vessel arriving in Guangdong province (south China). San Christobal offloaded in excess of 340 containers of which more than 90 arrived in Guangzhou wholesale market within the first two days of arrival, followed by an additional 20-30 containers on Thursday. For the first half of week 1 Shanghai received a large portion of their cherry supply from Guangzhou as importers either directly trucked up fruit as it was cleared through customs, or buyers in Guangzhou sent fruit north. By the weekend buyers in Shanghai were in anticipation of Ever Union which offered an additional volume of roughly 80 containers. Santina (850k) remained the most dominant variety by a large margin followed by Bing (550k) and Lapin (240k). Royal Dawn has been becoming less and less available with week 1’s volume around 80k cartons, the Royal Dawn that was available in the market showing good quality priced and found sales at between ¥200-230 (JD, 5kg) and ¥250-280 (SJD, 5kg). Movement was positive for most of the week with the two most dominant varieties (Santina & Bing) mostly pricing closely together. Santina or Bing in Guangzhou showing good visuals with firmness to touch found strong movement at a price of between ¥350-400 (JD/SJD, 5kg) by the middle of the week, and at a lower value closer to the weekend at between ¥310-340 (JD, 5kg). Shanghai only saw prices decreasing more markedly by the weekend as an additional vessel added volume to the supply available, which was trucked up from south China. Most of the good quality Santina by Sunday priced and found steady but slowing movement at a price level of between ¥340-350 (JD, 5kg) while Bing was in the range ¥330-340 (JD, 5kg). Although Santina, Bing and Lapin have performed markedly better than the more scarce Royal Dawn, some poor arrivals showing dried out stems coupled with softness and less appealing visuals could be found asking for between ¥200-240 (JD/SJD, 5kg). Problem fruit found dead slow movement, particularly with the large and increasing supply available to buyers. Chilean exports till week 1, with week 53 volumes revised upwards. Departures during week 1 will not likely be received by the market prior to Chinese New Year. These unprecedented volumes will most certainly cause a drag during the depressed post-CNY market. To date sea-freight volumes are up at 13.1 million cartons which represents a decrease of 14% compared to the previous season. Some select cherry’s asking price: Shanghai Market: Royal Dawn (Red Passion, JL) ￥180-190 (Friday) Santina (Frutdeli , JD) ￥250-260 (Friday) Lapin (Copefrut , JD) ￥260-280 (Saturday) Santina (Volcano , JD) ￥280-300 (Saturday) Lapins (Valcano, JD) ￥300-320 (Tuesday) Santina (Alsu, JD) ￥310-320 (Saturday) Glen Red (First, XLD) ￥320 (Thursday) Bing (Red Passion, JD) ￥330 (Saturday) Bing (Extremo Sur, JD) ￥390-400 (Thursday) Bing (Panagro, JD) ￥440 (Monday) Kordia (Panagro, JD) ￥450 (Monday) Santina (Alsu, SJD) ￥600-620 (Thursday) Guangzhou Market: Bing (Delmonte, JD) ￥250-270 (Thursday) Bing (Subsol, JD) ￥280-300 (Friday) Bing (Delmonte, JD) ￥280-300(Friday) Santina (Geofrut, JD) ￥290-310 (Friday) Santina (Prize, JD) ￥310-330 (Friday) Bing (Meyer, JN) ￥300-310 (Friday) Santina (Expa, JD) ￥320-330 (Friday) Bing (Sourthern Harvest, JD) ￥330-340 (Thursday) Santina (Expa, JD) ￥330(Thursday) Santina (Red Monkey, JD) ￥330-350 (Friday) Image source: Pixabay