China is resuming a regular pace of life and work as people gradually return to their jobs. The Chinese fruit market is also slowly warming up again. At the moment, many of the fruits that enter the Chinese market in large volumes come from Hainan Island.
Mr. Wu Bin of Hainan Wushen Ecological Agricultural Development Co., Ltd. (Kio) recently shared his view on current conditions in the Chinese fruit market: "Our fruit corn production season is about to begin. We first started the plantation of fruit corn in Hainan back in 2017. So far we have enjoyed excellent sales conditions that continue to improve every year. Chinese consumers love our fruit corn. However, we have had problems with the import of our corn seeds in the second half of 2019. As a result of delay at customs our fruit corn will enter the market late. We would normally begin supplying fruit corn in January, but this year we had to wait until early March. The overall surface area devoted to fruit corn plantation is also more than 13 hectares smaller than we had originally planned. A cob of fresh double-colored Kio fruit corn costs around 8-10 yuan [1.15-1.43 USD] in Shanghai shops. The price is relatively high, but the taste is delicious and consumers are more than willing to pay for the quality of our fruit corn."
Mr. Wu also stated, "the sudden outbreak of the corona virus has had an immense impact on all industries in China. People went home for Chinese Spring Festival [25 January, 2020] and many people stayed there because of the epidemic. The fruit and vegetable supply from Kio is experiencing difficulties as well. There are two main obstacles for a return to regular supply: first, workers are in short supply. Many laborers returned to the countryside for the festive season, and they are still there because of the epidemic."
"At the moment, the volume of orders at our branch office in Shanghai is not falling but rapidly growing instead. The workers who have returned from their holiday are working overtime. That is the only way to satisfy at least part of the growing demand. The second problem is in the area of transport. The entire country worked together to prevent and control the spread of the corona virus. This naturally had an effect on land transport and air freight, but luckily the transport sector is already recovering."
"Our 'gold and silver fruit corn' enters the Chinese market in early march. We continue supplying the market until July. The supply in March and April comes from plantations in Qionghai City, Hainan. The supply in May and June comes from plantations in Huangshan City, Anhui. We grow our own fruit corn, but we complement our products with fruit corn from agricultural cooperations. We are still as optimistic about the fruit corn market in China as we were three years ago."
"Our fruit corn is not the same as traditional sweet corn or glutinous corn. Our fruit corn is much sweeter. We import the seeds of a yellow and white corn variety from France. Our corn is not genetically modified. Kio is currently the only company with a fruit corn plantation in Hainan. We can therefore only compare the scale of plantation and the volume of production with our own figures from previous years: the overall surface area devoted to fruit corn plantation in Hainan started with 13 hectares in 2019 and reached 26 hectares in 2020. This is an extremely small plantation in comparison with other traditional corn farms. This is a specialty product for Kio. The limited production volume is only sufficient to satisfy some of our retail partners. We have not yet decided whether we will expand the surface area devoted to fruit corn plantation in Hainan."
"The traditional peak sales period of tropical fruit from Hainan begins after Chinese Spring Festival and continues until July. In addition to our fruit corn, we also supply the following tropical fruits: Heijingang wax apples, Qiaotou sweet potatoes, Jinzuan pineapples, and Guifei mangoes. The heart of our retail operations is in Shanghai and the wider Yangzi River Delta, but the first-tier cities in south China and north China form an important secondary market. We are also eager to develop new markets in other key regions. Our products are available online, in supermarket chain stores, premium wholesale markets, and community stores."
For more information:
Wu Bin (Rain)
Hainan wushen Ecological Agricultural Development Co., Ltd.
Tel.: 400-775-9176
Tel.: +86 158 2192 1811
E-mail: [email protected]