China has risen to become the world’s leading commercial producer of fresh fruit and vegetables, yielding 50 per cent of the former and 30 per cent of the latter, according to Fruit and Vegetable Facts data.
The vast majority of China’s production is for domestic consumption. Of the 220m tonnes of fruit produced in China, only 3m were exported abroad, while for the 484m tonnes of vegetables, only 4.4m were for export.
This makes less than 2 per cent of fruit exported and 1 per cent of vegetables exported.
Despite these low percentages against its total production, China still ranks high among global exporters; seventh for fruit and fourth for vegetables.
China’s primary export markets are regional, with Indonesia the primary buyer followed by Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, Russia, Hong Kong, the Philippines and South Korea.
The country’s main export product is garlic, with a phenomenal 400,000 tonnes exported to Indonesia in 2012, followed by apples and citrus.
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