Chilean Cherry Continues to Be the Market Share Leader: Overview of China's Imported Fruit for First Quarter, 2017

Recently,  the China Chamber of Commerce of Import & Export of Fruit released an overview of imported and exported fruit for the first quarter of 2017. China's fruit imports from January to March were 1.137 million tons, increasing by 3%. The import value was $ 1.49 billion, falling by 2 %.

Chile, Thailand and Vietnam are the top three exporting countries-of-origin, accounting for 62% of total fruit imports. The import value and volume from Chile ($ 530 million, 115,000 tons) and Thailand ($ 199 million, 137,000 tons) have increased slightly, while the import value and volume from Vietnam ($ 196 million, 386,000 tons) has declined. In terms of import value, Chile is the largest exporter to China while in terms of import volume, Vietnam ranks first, because the unit value of products is relatively low.

Cherries, grapes, longan, bananas, and dragon fruits are the top 5 categories of imported fruits, accounting for 70% of the total imported fruit volume in the first quarter. Fresh cherries continue to lead, recording $ 360 million in value, but dropping by 16% and 47,000 tons in volume, dropping by 24%; It’s estimated that these drops are because Chinese New Year was in January 2017, so a large number of fruits arrived in China by 2016. Fresh grapes have increased to $ 240 million in value and 10.1 million tons in volume; fresh longan reached $ 220 million in value with rapid growth, increasing by 42%, and 240,000 tons, increasing by 38%; bananas reached $ 130 million in value, falling 9%, while import volume was 233,000 tons, increasing by 4%; dragon fruits imports were $ 100 million, falling 9% and 14.7 million tons, dropping 8%.

The China Chamber of Commerce of Import & Export of Fruit also released a report on apple imports for the first quarter. From January to March, China's import volume of fresh apples reached 14,000 tons and $ 22.32 million, import volume and value grew 16%. The average price maintained the same value as last year at $ 1647 per ton.

The top three countries by volume in the first quarter were the United States, recording $ 15.84 million, increasing by 15%; New Zealand, recording $ 2.51 million, increasing by 56%; France $ 1.22 million, increasing by 14%.

Apples that Poland exported to China reached 740 tons and $ 650,000 in the first quarter, and the average price was $ 880 per ton. It is the fruit with the best price advantage. However, because it was the first time for Polish Apples to be imported, the import volume is still lower than apples from other countries.

Image: Baidu