The reporter of Economic Information Daily interviewed in Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi and other major apple producing areas, and learned that due to the multiple factors such as the difficulty in exporting apples in China caused by the spread of overseas epidemics, the relative saturation of the domestic market in major sales areas, and the large number of fruits coming on the market in summer, the work of vacating and clearing the stock of apples produced in 2020 that should have been completed in the near future was slow, and the price of apples continued to fall Few people paid attention to it, and some of the main production areas had rotten apples in the library. Relevant people said that if the low price and unsalable situation continue, it will not only compete with the apples produced this year for storage capacity, but also reduce the income of fruit farmers in the main apple producing areas, which is not conducive to the sustainable and healthy development of the apple industry.
Delivery is slower than usual, and some fruits begin to rot
When the reporter interviewed the main apple production areas in Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi and other places, he saw that unlike the busy scene of a large number of semi trailers waiting to transport apples at this time in previous years, there was basically no fruit transport vehicles in these places this year; Some apples that have been stacked in the CA storage for a long time have begun to rot due to the long storage time.
Baishui County, Shaanxi Province, which is located in the dry highland of Weibei, is known as the "hometown of apples in China". Because of the deep soil layer, sufficient sunlight, and large temperature difference between day and night, Baishui County is recognized by the World Horticultural Society as the best apple growing area in the world.
Li Shuanzhu, the general manager of Baishui Shengyuan Fruit Industry Co., Ltd., a leading agricultural industrialization enterprise in Shaanxi Province, said that after more than 30 years of development, Baishui has built a whole apple industry chain system, including variety breeding, fruit tree cultivation, growth management, agricultural means management, brand marketing, etc. The complete industrial structure has made Baishui a veritable fruit village, Drive local and surrounding county fruit farmers to rely on apples to get rich.
"Shengyuan Fruit Industry is a standardized enterprise with the right to export business. The annual sales volume of apples has been stable at about 30 million jin for a long time. It has become a practice to complete the vacating and clearing of the stock of apples stored in the previous year by the end of May, and reserve enough storage capacity for the early maturing varieties such as Gala that are about to start. But this year's situation is puzzling: since this year, 15% of apples have been stored in air-conditioned refrigerators, and it has become a normal situation that no semi trailer truck can walk out for more than ten days. Moreover, the sales price of one kilogram of apples has dropped from about 4 yuan last year to less than 2 yuan. No one has come to inquire about the price of fruits and the quantity of inventory, and the "cold winter" of apple sales seems to have arrived ahead of schedule. " He said.
In a number of controlled atmosphere warehouses of Shaanxi Baishui Hexing Fruit Industry Co., Ltd., the reporter of Economic Information Daily saw that large, red and dignified high-quality apples that had been boxed were piled up. He opened one of the boxes and found two white and rotting apples. The chairman of the company, Wen Xiaolin, said that the annual storage capacity of the company's apple is about 10 million jin, including self selling and storage. Affected by the epidemic, the number of apples imported from China into the Southeast Asian market represented by Thailand dropped precipitously this year. Since February, the company has exported only 10 containers of apples, totaling 400000 kg, which is a huge contrast with the export volume that can reach the same level within 20 days in a normal year.
"The epidemic has hindered international shipping. Containers are piled up in the ports of importing countries and cannot be returned. The freight of one container has risen from 7000 yuan in normal times to 17000 yuan now. In order to perform the contract, Apple must also send out. It is true that one container has lost 10000 yuan. Last year, 12.5 million yuan of loans were about to expire for the acquisition of fruits by enterprises. Apple sales in the international market followed the rule of "delivery before payment". The terminal sales were not smooth, and the enterprise's payment collection was not effective, which had a great impact on the enterprise's credit record and this year's acquisition of Apple. " Wen Xiaolin said.
Qixia City, Shandong Province is the main traditional apple producing area in China. The reporter found that compared with the situation that the sales of apples produced in the previous year were basically completed at this time, the local apples were unsalable this year, and half of them are still stored in cold storage. Chen Weizhong, secretary of the Party branch of Yulintou Village, Sujiadian Town, Qixia City, said that the stock out and sales peak season of apples usually occurs in the Spring Festival, the Lantern Festival and the period from Tomb Sweeping Day to May Day. However, this year's sales peak has not arrived, The price of fruit also declined: "At present, the price of apples here is only about 0.8 yuan per kilogram, which is not only far below the level of 5 yuan per kilogram in the same period in 2018, but also far from the price of 2 yuan per kilogram in 2019 and 2020. More importantly, there is basically no buyer now."
A merchant who bought Apple in Qixia said that in the past, they could sell about 100 cases a day, but now they can only sell 20 to 30 cases a day. The market demand is getting smaller, and they are unable to help the local people digest the inventory.
Zhou Hongxing, a fruit farmer in Xichenzhai Village, Beijing Township, Linyi County, Shanxi Province, said that he had built five air-conditioned refrigerators in 2016, with a total capacity of more than 7.5 million jin. Since this year, he still has a large number of apples stored in the refrigerators. "Recently, the inventory clearing is very slow, and only 20000 jin can be sold every day, and the goods are mainly delivered through e-commerce. Offline merchants don't even ask for prices, let alone buy," he said.
As the largest apple production base county in Shanxi, the sales situation in Linyi County is even worse: as of the first ten days of July, more than 1 million jin of apples had not been delivered from the local market, increasing the sales pressure day by day.
Variety structure Single market oversupply
This year, the main apple producing areas in China have low prices and unsalable apples. This is not only the reason why the COVID-19 epidemic abroad has led to the decline of apple exports, but also the market reflection that the growing area of apple in China has increased year by year in recent years, but the domestic consumption is limited.
The reporter from the Economic Information Daily found that a large number of homogeneous and repeated construction led to Fuji's "dominance" in apple production in China, and the lack of a variety structure linking early, medium and late maturity, resulting in a large number of apples coming into the market in a centralized manner at the same time, affecting prices and sales. Li Shaoxuan, deputy director of the Marketing Guidance Department of Yuncheng Fruit Industry Development Center in Shanxi Province, said that the planting area of apples in China has increased year by year, and the output has been increasing constantly. Under the condition of limited domestic consumption market capacity, apples have been in a state of "supply exceeds demand", and it is difficult to sell apples.
Li Shaoxuan said, "Although a large number of apples are stored in the cold storage every year, the number of apples to be delivered this year has reached a new high in recent years, mainly due to the sluggish sales during the Spring Festival and the Lantern Festival. At present, due to the high stock of apples and the continuous weakness of prices, it is inevitable to sell off the market. The impact of accelerating the seasonal fruit listing, the consumer demand is also declining, and finally leads to the unsalable apples. "
Yang Xixun, chairman of Shaanxi Apple Group Co., Ltd., said that after years of development, China's apple area has accounted for about 50% of the world's total apple planting area, with an annual output of more than 40 million tons, 80% of which are late maturing red Fuji varieties. "From Shandong to Shaanxi, most of the apples in stock are Red Fuji, which lacks new varieties to adapt to different periods and different groups of people, making the apple market with increasing production year by year face fierce domestic competition. Under the condition that the market is basically saturated, it is difficult to sell apples on schedule and according to price, and it is even more difficult to reduce prices and destock apples."
Over time, unsalable apples have had an impact on fruit growers. At the time of apple bagging, Fan Qingguang, a villager in Yulintou Village, Sujiadian Town, Qixia City, calculated an account for the reporter: now the production price keeps rising. If someone is hired to bag apples and pick bags at harvest time, the labor cost is 0.2 yuan per apple, plus 0.04 yuan for the paper bag itself, an apple only bagging a link, an increase of 0.24 yuan. "My family has planted 7 mu of orchards, and it takes about 130000 bags every year. This year, the apple benefits are not good. I'm going to do all the planting with my wife."
Mou Rimin, the head of Sujiadian Town Fruit Tree Station, said: "This is a vicious circle: if the apples cannot be sold, the fruit farmers will not be willing to invest more in planting. Without investment, the quality of the apples will become worse, and they will not be able to sell."
"In a word, Chinese apples are still an old problem: not much is good, and more is not good," said Zhao Zhengyang, professor and doctoral supervisor of the School of Horticulture, Northwest A&F University of Science and Technology.
Combination of long and short measures to promote production, supply and marketing
Relevant people suggested that effective measures and mechanisms should be taken to solve the problems of large stock of apples, falling prices and difficult sales.
The reporter learned that at present, local branches of central enterprises, including Sinopec Shaanxi Branch, have introduced practical measures such as "refueling to send apples" to help reduce inventory. Yang Xixun suggested that we should mobilize and mobilize the advantages of central enterprises, further promote the "refuel to send apples" initiative, and at the same time, express logistics enterprises such as postal services could also introduce measures such as fee reduction to help farmers solve current difficulties.
At present, the production capacity of apple is surplus, and most of the orchards in China are planted by arborization and sparse planting, and most of the varieties are traditional Fuji. "It is necessary to continue to strengthen the promotion of dwarf close planting technology, expand the easy to manage, high yield and good quality varieties represented by 'Yanfu No. 1' and 'Baishui No. 1', increase the supply of 'Shuangjie' apples mature in mid September to meet the needs of the Mid Autumn Festival and National Day markets, and solve the problem of early harvest of single red Fuji apples," said Mou Rimin.
Li Shaoxuan believes that the small production of each household obviously lags behind the market demand, and does not have the ability to resist market risks. We should change the existing pattern of "small farmers, large markets", vigorously improve the degree of apple production organization, implement large-scale production, industrialized management, improve the apple circulation chain, and solve the problems of production ignoring the market and market requirements.
Yang Xixun said that the main apple production areas in China are mostly located in provinces and regions along the "Belt and Road", and Shaanxi is the largest apple production province in China. We can learn from the successful experience of the Netherlands in building the world's flower capital, take advantage of the advantages of Baishui County and other places in Shaanxi Province in the core area of the apple industry, build the "Belt and Road" apple industry distribution center, and solve the problems in marketing, logistics and other links Asymmetrical contradictions drive the smooth flow of Chinese apple products and the steady development of high-quality industries. (Reporter Liu Tong, Zhang Wuyue, Wang Feihang)
Source: Economic Information Daily