CN China retail supermarket blueberries bananas

Chinese fresh fruit import volumes jumped 22.8 per cent over the 12 months to 31 December 2014, according to report by Black Sea Grain. Citing figures from Chinese customs data, the report suggested the People’s Republic imported a total of 3.3m tonnes over the calendar year.

Bananas accounted for a third of all fresh fruit imports, with 1.1m tonnes entering the Asian nation, up 119 per cent on the previous year. Dragon Fruit imports leapt 12 per cent on the previous year to 603,000 tonnes, with Vietnam the leading supplier. The combined import volume of bananas, dragon fruit, durian and longan accounted for over 70 per cent of all imported fruit.

In other categories, table grape imports rose 13 per cent to 211,000 tonnes while orange imports climbed 3 per cent to 90,000 tonnes. Kiwifruit imports increased by 30 per cent to 62,000 tonnes, with Italy providing 11,000 tonnes, up 175 per cent on the previous year.