YuHua is a Chinese import and wholesale company with head offices in Shanghai. Pedro Tellez is responsible for YuHua's sourcing programs from South America. We are at the start of Chile's sugar plum campaign.
Pedro explains enthusiastically: "The fresh sugar plum is like the new cherry; we are seeing big demand from China. The first large arrivals are expected in the last week of March and first week of April. The season is short, around 6 weeks. China is one of the few countries globally that imports large quantities of fresh sugar plums. Chinese importers and traders are very experienced at moving plums. In addition, plums last well during transport. There are two types of packaging used: one that allows the fruit to breath and an alternative packaging that does not allow for the fruit to breath and hence ripen. Therefore, in general, arrivals are good. Sugar plums are on the whole easier to handle than cherries."
Pedro Tellez
This year's Chile's orchards are experiencing a bumper crop. "We expect the market to send 80% more plums than last year. The last time this happened was three years ago. Last year, and the year before, harvests and shipments were considerably smaller."
Pedro is positive about the quality of this year's harvest, and explains that exporters have invested in different packaging options: “Exporters are diversifying the packaging options for sugar plums, experiencing with different packaging and weight combinations that might yield higher returns. This season on offer is 9KG plastic boxes, 5kg carton box, 2.5 kg carton boxes and some clamshell options. In previous seasons we saw that fruit packaged in 2.5kg and 5kg boxes sell at higher prices. Presentation is important. We are seeing that growers and exporters are doing good work preparing for the season. Chinese consumers like large sized plums. It's will be positive for all exporters to get export requirements for this market right."
Generally, Chinese wholesalers and importers are experienced at importing and handling plums. The advantages this generates is that, if desirable, the fruit can be saved for a few more days or weeks waiting for the right market prices. "This season was delayed by one week to 10 days. With these volumes, will be very important that the importer knows how to handle the fruit that is arriving. Some traders might want to sell as fast as possible. But those with professional storage can sell at a later time, probably yielding better prices."
Pedro concludes: "This year's harvest has generated a bumper crop; around 2,500 containers will be shipped to China."
YuHua's head office is located in Shanghai with cold rooms in Shanghai and some other locations in China, including Guangzhou. The company has operations across China, including in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing and a number of second tier cities. Its purchasing team is internationally oriented with English speaking staff. YuHua imports fresh fruits, covering virtually all fruits that have protocols to China. From Chile the company handles cherries, plums, nectarines, blueberries, grapes and avocado. In addition, YuHua imports citrus from South Africa, Egyptian citrus and Spanish citrus and a number of crops from Southeast Asia, including jackfruit, durian and mangosteen. It is developing its durian program and has been investing in developing sales of Chinese domestic fruits, moving through wholesale channels across China. From Peru the company imports avocado, blueberries, grapes, mandarins and it expects to start pomegranate imports soon now the protocol has recently been opened.
Chilean sugar plum exports and export estimations to China
The full team of Shanghai YuHua Fruits
For more information:
Pedro Tellez, Purchasing Specialist
Shanghai YUHUA Fruits Co., Ltd.
https://www.linkedin.com/company/shanghai-yu-hua-fruits/?trk=similar-pages_result-card_full-click&originalSubdomain=fr
Email: +56 9 69071204
Telephone: [email protected]