China’s upcoming Shandong pear crop is running about a week later than usual and sporting hail-damaged quality, but the region’s apples are pegging a 20 per cent increase on last year’s volume.
That was the message from packer-marketer Alfa Fruit Packers, one of China’s leading apple exporters.
In a recent crop report, the company predicted pears from Shandong would be ready around 10 September, one week later than last year, with Fuji apples from the region ready around 10 October.
The lateness of the Shandong season is due to a long winter, which delayed flowering by as much as two weeks, the report said.
Plenty of rain in May has helped the apple crop along, however, and russet levels are down from last year.
Varieties like Red Coral, Gala, Red General, Red Star and Golden Delicious will be available from Shandong two or three weeks earlier, and Fujis from Shaanxi will reportedly be ready around 19 September.
The Alfa Fruit report warned buyers against purchasing early, immature Fujis.
“Every season there are always exporters trying to jump the gun by paying higher price to harvest the `immature` Fuji early and make shipment as early as mid-September,” the company said.
“These apples will neither have colour nor are they full of starch and no sugar. Please note that the early-harvested Fujis are highly susceptible to bitter pit, so you might also be running the risk of receiving quite a few bitter pit fruit if you buy too early from Shandong exporters.”
Current prices of early apples on the Chinese domestic market are holding at high levels. Export-quality Red Coral apples, an early Gala variety, have been selling at US$0.80 per kg in 113-150 counts. Alfa Fruit also expects Gala prices to be up 20-30 per cent on last year.
“Exporting prices always depends on the domestic consumption of apples,” the company said.
The Shandong pear crop is not proving as popular, however. The fruit is becoming less popular on the Chinese domestic market and many growers are removing trees as a result.
A hail storm in March also decreased the volume of export-quality fruit, the report said.
“The prices should remain pretty stable because domestic demand for these pears is not strong,” the company stated. “We are looking at a small year for Shandong pears with quality not as clean as last season.”
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