Chinese production of peaches, nectarines and cherries is forecast to fall in marketing year (MY) 2018/19, according to a new GAIN report from the US Department of Agriculture.
The report revealed that extreme weather such as frost and hail in the stonefruit production regions of northern China this spring have negatively affected both volume and quality of the fruit.
For peaches and nectarines, the MY 2018/19 estimate is for 13.5m tonnes, down 6 per cent year-on-year, while cherry production could fall by over 10 per cent to 340,000 tonnes.
China’s peach and nectarine exports are forecast at 100,000 tonnes in MY 2018/19, up 4 per cent from the revised estimate for MY 2017/18.
'Although China’s peach and nectarine supplies are expected to drop this year due to the abnormal weather patterns, demand in Central Asia (Kazakhstan and Russia) for the fruit is picking up,' the USDA reported.
For cherries, imports into China are forecast to grow 57 per cent to 160,000 tonnes, with Chile the largest overall supplier.
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