The price of cherries has caused heated discussion. Why are imported cherries so expensive？
Why are imported cherries so expensive? Is the original price expensive or is the supermarket and platform raising the price? What is the price of domestic big cherries, and is it so expensive to import cherries?
completeText 2970 words, reading aboutIt takes 6 minutes.
Data News Editor Chen Hualuo New Media Design Xu Xiao Proofread Li Liarmy
# The price of cherries is "cut at the waist" # and # Imported cherries are positive #. Recently, the topic of cherries has been heated on the Internet.
On the New Year’s Day, all major store platforms have also started to launch "New Year’s Purchase" activities. As a popular fruit that occupies the table of Chinese people in winter and spring all the year round, every topic about cherries can cause extensive discussion.
Of course, the reason why cherries are so concerned by the people is not only because it has the rare aura of "there are not many fruits in winter", but also because of its high price and taste in general winter fruits, which can always cause young people to laugh at themselves on the Internet about whether they can afford cherries.
Compared with oranges, apples and bananas with a price of six or seven yuan a catty, cherries with a price of thirty or forty yuan a catty always seem unique, and this price has really dissuaded many consumers. Therefore, when the news reported that the imported cherries were "cut at half price" this year, many people shouted: I can finally afford cherries.
Why are imported cherries so expensive? Is the original price expensive or is the supermarket and platform raising the price? What is the price of domestic big cherries, and is it so expensive to import cherries?
To understand why imported cherries are so expensive, we must first look at where they come from.
━━━━━
China, the largest importer of cherries in the world.
Cherry, big cherry? Many people are stupid and can’t tell the difference.
In fact, cherry is a big thick-skinned cherry produced in America, Canada, Chile and other American countries. The more common varieties are Bing and Lam-bort, with dark red fruit, firm skin, good elasticity and sweet taste.
Cherry fruit trees have been introduced in Shandong and Liaoning, and many varieties of China cherry have been formed. Most of the domestic big cherries (that is, domestic cherries) on the market are produced in Shandong and Liaoning. The small cherry made in China in spring and summer tastes sour and slightly yellowish.
As far as cherries are concerned, they are high in value, bright in appearance, rich in various nutrients, and have the effects of invigorating qi, nourishing blood and beauty beauty, so they can be said to be diamonds in fruits.
Chinese people fell in love with cherries at first sight not only because of their high value, but also because their income increased, their consumption power increased, and they wanted to "buy something good", and their demand for fruit nutrition and taste also had a higher level.
Coupled with the convenience of transportation, cherries from Europe, America and other places have flooded into the fruit market like a flood, and the number of cherries imported from China has been increasing.
According to the "2019 Fresh New Year Consumption" report released by the fresh e-commerce platform, cherry won the first place in the new year fruit consumption and became the C star of the new year fruit category. The sales volume soared 32 times year-on-year, and the demand for cherry consumption in China was strong.
According to the data of GlobalTrade, in 2018, China mainland imported 41% cherries, Hong Kong, China 11% cherries and Taiwan, China 1.8% cherries. China became the country with the largest number of cherries imported in the world, and more than half of the cherries imported in the world were eaten by Chinese people.
In 2020, this proportion will also expand with the increase of imports. In 2020, China imported 210,400 tons of cherries from all over the world, and the import amount reached 11.358 billion yuan.
Where are so many cherries imported from?
According to the statistics of the General Administration of Customs, in 2020, more than 90% of cherries imported domestically came from Chile. This is also the most common cherry in supermarkets and e-commerce platforms this season.
Because of the different geographical environment, this season’s domestic cherries are still sleeping in the trees, and the cherries in South America and Chile have been full and mature under the influence of the sun, and have crossed the ocean to come to China.
In fact, as early as 2008, China and Chile signed the Protocol on Quarantine of Chilean Cherry and Plum Exported to China, which opened the door for Chilean cherries to enter China.
According to the report released by the Cherry Association under the Chilean Fruit Exporters Association (ASOEX), it is preliminarily predicted that the export volume of Chilean cherries will increase by 38% in the 2020/2021 season. Antonio Walker, Minister of Agriculture of Chile, estimates that about 500,000 tons of cherries will enter the China market.
It is precisely because of the bumper harvest of Chilean cherries this year that there will be the possibility of "cutting the price". However, judging from the prices of cherries imported from various countries, Chile has the largest number of cherries, but it is not the most expensive.
The import price of Chilean cherries is 53.1 yuan/kg, even slightly lower than the overall average import price (53 yuan/kg). While the most expensive ones are imported from New Zealand and Australia, and the price per kilogram exceeds that of 100 yuan, it is uncertain whether the price will be affected.
━━━━━
Will you buy it after "cutting the price"
In addition to the bumper harvest and the price reduction caused by oversupply, the transformation of transportation mode can also save a lot of expenses. Lu Fangxiao, president of China Fruit Circulation Association, said in an interview with the media that when the price of cherries was the highest in the previous month, it was air transportation, with less imports and higher costs. Recently, mainly by sea, the number has increased, and the transportation cost has also decreased.
Indeed, cherries with high value are also very delicate, and the tender fruits that can be broken by blowing bombs have higher requirements for cold chain preservation technology, which is one of the main reasons why major e-commerce platforms are priced differently.
Open all kinds of store platform apps, and the cherries pushed are dizzying. Through the calculation of different prices corresponding to different weights, it can be seen that there is an obvious gap between the average selling prices of J, JJ and JJJ cherries. The most expensive JJJ cherries are 94.95 yuan/kg, and the cheapest J cherries are 68.28 yuan/kg.
The average price of the whole fruit is about 82.6 yuan/kg, which is nearly 60% higher than the average price of the customs.
Among them, there are transportation and storage costs, labor costs, platform benefits, etc. The most important thing is the transportation and storage costs, and the cold chain preservation transportation technology will also be an important influence factor for all e-commerce platforms in the future "Cherry Battle".
Recently, however, due to the news that "nucleic acid test is positive", the selling price of many cherries has plunged, and the price of cherries in Beijing has followed suit. Many supermarkets and fruit shops have reduced their prices to promote sales, and some of them have dropped by more than 50%.
In the face of the price before diving, more than 80% of consumers think it is a little high, and less than 17% of consumers think it is moderate or reasonable. Most of the Chinese people’s consumption of cherries is concentrated in 100 yuan.
According to the age breakdown of consumers, they have certain spending power, pay more attention to and pursue high-quality and exquisite life, and the post-80s and 90s with increasing demand for high-end fruits are the main force of cherry consumption, and the consumption of people aged 31-40 accounts for 38.46% between 201 and 500 yuan. Consumers aged between 41 and 50 mainly spend between 51 and 100 yuan.
━━━━━
How much is the domestic big cherry more expensive than the imported cherries?
The reason why imported cherries can attract people’s wide attention is also inseparable from its production time. Every year from December to February, it is the two "year-end" of Chinese people. It is particularly appropriate to treat yourself with something good and buy some good cherries.
The import time of cherries is also mainly concentrated at this time. Perhaps for farmers in Chile, planting and harvesting cherries depends not only on the weather, policies, but also on the calendars of Chinese people.
Because of climatic factors, domestic cherries in China are immature in winter, and the market circulation is not much. However, the production and sales of domestic cherries are much higher than those of imported cherries in the whole year. There are also survey data showing that 75% of Chinese people choose domestic cherries when purchasing cherry and cherry products.
Because of the high market return, domestic cherry production has developed rapidly, and the cultivation area and planting area have expanded rapidly. According to incomplete statistics, in 2018, the planting area of big cherry in China reached 3 million mu.
At present, the cultivation of sweet cherries in China is mainly concentrated in Bohai Bay area. Shandong Province is the largest cherry planting area in China, and the warm temperate monsoon climate is very suitable for planting. It is one of the traditional producing areas where cherries were planted earlier in China, and the state has also given strong support in variety research and development.
Therefore, Shandong cherry is far ahead compared with other provinces in terms of planting area and yield.
Thanks to the increase of planting area, the output of domestic cherries has been increasing, and the output has more than doubled between 2013 and 2019. In 2019, the output has reached 1.125 million tons, an increase of 182,000 tons compared with 2018.
According to the fresh big data of the express delivery platform, Yantai was the region with the largest number of big cherries in 2019, and the popular foreign cherries were being replaced by domestic big cherries.
The competition in the cherry market has intensified, which has also forced the product quality to continuously improve. According to an interview with the Beijing News, the price of domestic cherry in greenhouse in Liaoning has just matured, reaching 300-400 yuan per catty. At this time last year, the price was even higher, and a catty was sold to 500 yuan. Although the cost of greenhouse planting is high, the fruit feeling and color of artificial grading exceed that of many imported cherries.
Because most of the domestic cherries began to mature gradually after the Spring Festival, the prices of most goods labeled "domestic big cherries" are not cheaper than those of imported Chilean cherries, and the average price per catty is basically between 80-90 yuan. But even at this price, you may not be able to buy fresh and genuine domestic cherries.
On-duty editor Wu Yanzu Kang Xixi
Reporting/feedback