Sino-Singapore Jingwei, February 23 (Yang Jingchuan) "Special imported cherries are only 29.9 per pound!" At a farmers' market in Fengtai District, Beijing, a fruit stall owner was loudly greeting customers.
Some customers laughed at the checkout and said that while the price is not high, they should quickly realize "cherry freedom".
Why did the price of imported cherries that used to sell for over 100 yuan per pound continue to drop recently?
Sino-Singapore Jingwei went to Beijing Xinfadi Wholesale Market to conduct a field visit and investigation.
Stored for too long Dealer: Not recommended as a gift
Xinfadi Market is currently the largest specialized wholesale market for agricultural products in Beijing.
When Sino-Singapore Jingwei visited the fruit area, it was found that the price of imported cherries fell significantly compared with last year.
According to some dealers, according to different quality and grades, the current wholesale price of imported cherries is more than 20 yuan to 40 yuan per kilogram, and some dealers also have a large number of imported cherries in their warehouses.
"These are all imported from Chile. A box of 5 catties costs 130 yuan to take away, but to be honest, it's not as tasty as before." Li Ming, a fruit wholesaler, said, "The prices of (imported cherries) are all the same. It's down, and it was more than 100 pounds last year."
"The imported ones are not too delicious." Li Ming said frankly that the imported Chilean cherries in his warehouse were packed in airtight bags with nitrogen to keep them fresh. Time check, the storage time is longer, so the taste will inevitably decline.
"The production date is November last year. The taste may not be guaranteed. If you look carefully, some of the appearances are also a little bumpy.
If you can keep it for yourself, try not to give it as a gift
." Li Ming said.
Data source: Zhongxin Jingwei Yang Jingchuan Watchmaking in Beijing Xinfadi Wholesale Market
According to the price trend of cherries in the Xinfadi market,
at the end of October last year, the average price of imported cherries reached a maximum of 195 yuan/kg, and then began to gradually decline.
As of February this year, it has dropped to 25 yuan/kg, which has fallen by more than 87% compared to its highest point
.
In this regard, Jiang Han, a senior researcher at Pangu Think Tank, said that one of the reasons for the short-term rise in the price of cherries last year was that the previous "popularity" led to a substantial increase in its import volume, which would inevitably lead to oversupply in the later period, resulting in lower prices.
Dealer Wang Di agrees with this. In his opinion, after the Spring Festival, most fruit markets are relatively dull, fewer people buy, and sales are basically not as good as before.
As for the reason why the price of imported cherries continues to fall, Wang Di also said that it is mainly affected by the relationship between supply and demand.
"In the second half of last year, people were keen to buy imported fruits such as cherries. But at that time, it took a long time for customs to conduct inspections, and it was relatively difficult to buy cherries, and the price went up accordingly." Wang Di said that with the subsequent release of customs by the customs , the arrival of cherries gradually increased; after the holiday, people's purchasing intention and demand decreased, resulting in lower prices.
Zhongxin Jingwei photo of imported cherries stocked by dealers
At the same time, Wang Di said that now (the end of February) is the final stage of the sales of imported cherries and is close to delisting.
"It won't work if you leave it for too long, the quality is difficult to guarantee, and it's normal to sell it cheaper."
Liu Chunsheng, an associate professor at the Central University of Finance and Economics, also pointed out that the decline in the price of imported cherries also has a certain relationship with seasonal factors.
"Especially after the Spring Festival, with the decline in demand and oversupply, the price of imported cherries and other fruits will naturally decline."
Domestic cherries may be popular
"Dalian's cherries are the best now. I pick them up and ship them here." At the Xinfadi Fruit Wholesale Market, a dealer specializing in wholesale cherries opened a box of domestic cherries. "But Recently (domestic cherries) are also expensive, if you want to take them away, I will give you 70 yuan per pound.”
Sino-Singapore Jingwei noticed that compared with the nitrogen preservation of imported cherries, domestic cherries are relatively fresh.
When asked about the difference between imported and domestic cherries, Zhang Li said, "I have all the cherries here from Dalian. They just arrived the day before yesterday, and there are several imported cherries from Chile. It's been a month, and it tastes incomparable."
A supermarket staff who came to buy the goods also told Sino-Singapore Jingwei that the quality of domestic cherries is still better at this stage. "If it is delicious, it is still domestically produced, but the price will be relatively higher."
China-made cherries in the new longitude and latitude
"Now the price of (domestic cherries) is high because the cost is higher," Wang Di said. "It didn't take long for domestic cherries to come on the market. My batch of cherries went from planting to fruit picking, transportation to packing. This series of processes are all hand-selected, and the combined cost of all parties leads to higher prices, but the designated ones are more delicious than imported ones, and they should be quite popular after a while.”
Sino-Singapore Jingwei noticed that Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia, and Wuxi City, Jiangsu had previously detected imported cherries positive for the new crown, and issued emergency notices one after another.
So is the falling price of imported cherries related to the positive detection of imported cherries in many places?
In this regard, Wang Di bluntly said that it may have a certain impact.
"People are not so keen on imported fruits now. Domestic cherries are relatively safer and more secure, not to mention the taste is better now." Wang Di introduced, "But many supermarkets still come to me to buy imported cherries. Don't look at the piles of so much now, it is very likely that they will all be taken away by the supermarket tomorrow."
"After the arrival of spring, the variety of fruits will be more abundant." Liu Chunsheng said that with the increase in the variety of substitute fruits and fresh fruits, the price of 'substituted fruits' will drop significantly.
In addition, due to the impact of the epidemic, some people's consumption concept of pursuing imported fruits may change, and domestic fruits are more likely to be popular in the future.
(Sino-Singapore Jingwei APP)
(At the request of the interviewee, Li Ming, Wang Di and Zhang Li are pseudonyms in the text)
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