Dan Siekman

With an official count of 827 exhibitors, the 2018 edition is showing a modest rise in the total number of exhibitors compared to 813 a year earlier. It remains to be seen if official post-show attendance figures can surpass the record of more than 13,000 visitors set last year.

Nestled in a serene valley at a height of over 2,000 meters in western Yunnan province, Longyun was founded in 2004, mainly processing and exporting garlic and wild mushroom-based products, to Europe. Over the years, Longyun added more products, including fresh vegetables, slow-roasted tomatoes, frozen chargrilled vegetables. Longyun in 2013 also added a new wholly-owned farming subsidiary, Shenglong Modern Farm, with more than 500 hectares of fields growing a range of vegetables nearby its processing facilities.

Prices of several futures contracts for fresh apples reached record highs this month on China’s Zhengzhou Commodities Exchange. Elsewhere in the market, early ripening gala varieties are already on sale, as suppliers are simultaneously clearing out remaining stock of cold storage Fujis.

According to China Customs statistics, China exported 3.61 million tons of fresh fruits in 2017, down 1.8% YOY. The total value of fresh fruit exports in 2017 was $5.34 billion—down 2.9% YOY. The average price per ton of exported fruit was US$ 1,478.62, which was down $17.8 per ton, or 1.2%, YOY.