According to Monica Gao, of the export department of the Chinese company Luscious Fresh, the situation for garlic in this Asian market is currently positive. “More plants are purchasing fresh garlic from growers compared with last year; volumes are greater and prices for new crops are more expensive.”
She affirms that prices in the market are still on the rise. For the company, white garlic (5.5cm+ size) currently has an FOB price of $1100-$1600 per MT in all packing formats (i.e. 10kgs/carton loose; 3pcs*50g; 5pcs*40g; 1kgs*10bags, etc.).
Regarding the reports about growers keeping their garlic in storage, Monica assures that this is something Luscious Fresh didn’t do. “All our old garlic was handled with orders from overseas or mainland customers, but many packers have kept their garlic in storage to push prices up; that is one of the reasons why the new crops' cost is so high.”
Luscious Fresh is currently supplying its garlic mainly to Canada, Australia, and Europe, especially the Netherlands. “We export about 40-100 MT to these countries per month. To explore more valuable clients, we must make ourselves become an expert not only on market, but also quality, to be confident we can provide the best quality for a reasonable price within this fierce competitive market environment,” explains Monica.
