Since the beginning of the year, it has been the sales period for imported stone fruits. "This year's Australian plums arrived in the Chinese market before the Chinese New Year, which was very beneficial for sales. At the same time, the large supply of Chilean cherries this season has attracted more consumers' attention to stone fruits, opening up new potential markets for plums." Imported stone fruits are the main products of Baihong Fruit this season. Mr. Wei from the company shared some observations from this season.
In the past, Australian plums often missed the golden sales window due to late arrivals. But this year, they arrived early, right before the holiday period. "The fruit quality has been excellent, supply is ample, and the price is lower than in previous years," Mr. Wei noted. "All of these factors have driven strong sales and a market performance that's significantly better than before."
"At the beginning of the season, Chilean plums entered the market at noticeably lower prices. There were two main reasons. First, Australian plums were still in the market at the time, creating competition. Second, consumers have become much more rational in recent years. While quality matters, they're increasingly attentive to whether the price matches the value. People are willing to buy — but only at prices they consider reasonable — and that naturally pushes prices downward."
As the season has progressed and Australian plums have been phased out, prices for Chilean plums have gradually recovered. The large supply of Chilean cherries earlier in the season also helped boost the visibility and acceptance of Chilean plums, which has supported stable sales. Mr. Wei noted that, so far this season, the average price of Chilean plums is slightly higher than last year. In the past two weeks, large sea shipments of plums have arrived. "Markets across the country have digested much of this volume," he said. "Traders have been cautious, controlling the speed of container openings to keep price fluctuations within a reasonable range."
However, Mr. Wei did point out that some batches of recently arrived plums were not firm enough, and some of the green fruits became soft quickly, possibly due to post-harvest handling and processing issues.
Red Heart Plums
Beyond the popular cherry plums, Mr. Wei highlighted the strong performance of Red Heart plums this year: "Red Heart plums have a great taste and sell quickly. The only downside is that arrivals are limited. The Chinese market favors fruits with high sweetness, so varieties with lower sweetness or an unbalanced sweet-sour ratio are seeing their market share shrink."
When discussing overall consumption trends, Mr. Wei pushed back on the idea of "consumption downgrade." "I don't believe consumers are downgrading — rather, they're becoming more rational. High-quality fruit still sells well, but consumers are unwilling to pay prices they feel are unjustified. Price must match perceived value."
Baihong Fruit operates mainly through wholesale market stalls, dealing in a variety of high-quality seasonal imported and domestic fruits. Looking ahead, Mr. Wei added: "The Qingming Festival is approaching, and we expect holiday demand to drive prices upward."