Guangxi Rongan kumquats started picking in small quantities last week and will be available in batches at the end of October and early November. Guangxi Rongan Mayi Agricultural Development Co., Ltd. focuses on the cultivation and sales of Rongan kumquats.
Mr. Li Yingyi, from the company, introduced the situation of the new season: "This year, due to the double February in the lunar calendar, it is reflected in the advance of the production season. The ripeness of kumquats has already met the harvest standards earlier, but if they want to meet the quality standards of Rongan kumquats with "good taste, high sugar content, and good pulping degree", the production area needs to experience a significant cooling or the ripening time will be longer. Therefore, we started picking later."
According to Li, unlike last year when the continuous drought caused a reduction in production, the climate in the production area this year is good, and the kumquat production has increased and the quality is ideal: "The production area has had good weather this year, and the kumquat production has increased by at least 30-40% compared with last year. The overall quality and commercial fruit yield are better than last year, and the price at the origin is about 10% higher than before."
"The good thing about this year's sales is that kumquats are on the market early and the Chinese New Year is late, so the sales peak season is extended. I am optimistic about the overall sales and estimate that they may be almost sold out before the Spring Festival. However, sales pricing is more difficult. Affected by the general environment, the overall fruit market this year is not as good as in previous years. Although the kumquat planting scale is small and the technical threshold is high, which is different from the situation of large categories of fruits, the price trend is not yet clear."
Li estimates that the overall price of Rongan kumquats this year will be higher than before (except last year). One of the reasons is that the price doubled in the last production season due to the pandemic. Although farmers understand that the situation is special, they still have high expectations for prices.
Mayi Agriculture’s high-standard automatic photoelectric sorting production line
Rongan kumquats include smooth-peel kumquats and crisp honey kumquats. When talking about future development trends, Li estimates that the price of smooth-peel kumquats will rise in the future, while the price of crisp honey kumquats may drop slightly. “Currently, the planting scale of smooth-peel kumquats has not been expanded. The local government encourages improving quality and yield per unit rather than expanding planting. Farmers also tend to choose crisp honey kumquats with better economic benefits. The limited planting volume will cause prices to rise."
"As for the crisp honey kumquat, because it has been favored by the market in recent years, there has been a lot more planting area, and some peripheral producing areas are also planting. When the prices in peripheral producing areas are not high, the prices in the main producing areas will also be affected. But overall, the capital investment and technical threshold required for crisp honey ones are relatively high, and the price should not drop significantly."
In order to adapt to market changes, Mayi Agriculture has built a new post-production processing center to reduce costs in production, packaging, sales and other circulation links. In addition, this year, many fruit industry channels have formed investment portfolios with production areas and achieved in-depth cooperation through cross-holding. Under this trend, Mayi Agriculture also plans to introduce investment from the fruit supply chain and integrate more with the market. Currently, it is inspecting the market openly.
Guangxi Rongan Mayi Agricultural Development Co., Ltd. owns orchards and processing plants. The self-owned brand "Daju Yiding", with channels covering wholesale markets, supermarkets, fruit stores, and online e-commerce.