Floods

The floods that have ravaged large parts of southern China in recent weeks have so far failed to have a big impact on the fresh produce sector, according to key players in the industry.

As of 26 June, more than 2.4m people had been relocated because of the floods, with at least 379 people killed and 147 missing, Reuters reported.

But the fresh produce sector in the country has, remarkably, so far emerged largely unscathed from the damage.

"The flood impact in the southern part of Fujian Province, which is the main growing area for pomelo, is not significant," Agus Zhang of Scent China told Fruitnet.com.

"In the northern part of Fujian Province, which is the major growing area for Lugan mandarin oranges, the situation is worse. During the last wave of rain, it was the flowering period for Lugan, and many of the fruit tree flowers have been hit, so production volume will be down."

Peng Haocheng of Jiangxi Yang said the flood didn't have a great impact on the southern part of Jianxi Province, which is a major navel orange producing area.

Kevin Chen of Gold Land was optimistic that despite a lessening of customers in markets, the overall impact of the flood on fresh produce production wasn't as bad as it could have been.

"Because of the rain, the foot traffic in Jiangnan market is less crowded. In addition, some roads are blocked due to the rain storm and fruits can not be transported out of Guangdong, so the buyers have held their purchasing," Mr Chen said.

"The flood impact to local fruit production in Guangdong is very minor."