“We are a leading apple producer in China. We have a modern fruit production base with an integrated production, storage and sales channel. Our apple brand has recently been selected as 'One of 10 best Chinese apple brands in 2015' at an event where 100 national cooperatives competed. We have been honored by the Minister of Agriculture”, says Xianbin Lv, the deputy general manager of Dalian DongMaTun Fruit Industry.
“We cooperate with local farmers that produce green apples for us for more than 10 years. We provide them with with all necessary support, including technical support. Our apple production base is known as the 'Apple valley in China', it occupies around 800 hectares (12,000 mu). Annually we produce 15,000 tons. We plant apples in different varieties, including Fuji, Guoguang, Jinshuai, Qiaonajin, Hongyu and Yulin. Among these, Fuji, Guoguang and Jinshuai are our main varieties whose production volume accounts for more than 80% of total production.”
In terms of sales, manager Lv mentioned, “our apples are sold to supermarket chains in Dongbei and Shanghai. We are now focussing to increase our reach to Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Meanwhile, some of our apples are indirectly sold to Europe and Russia. Currently, we do not export our apples directly abroad, this is due to two reasons. Firstly, we do not have stable clients overseas. Secondly, there is big enough demand for our apples on the domestic market. Of course, our door is not closed. We would consider to directly export if we see a good opportunity. In terms of sales, we combine traditional sales with online sales. Our e-business is still small, we sell 15% of our products online.”
“Our plant base has geographic advantages. We receive plenty of sunshine, the soil is of good quality and we are located far away from cities and other industrial pollution. All these factors are favorable for apple production. Secondly, we are an integrated company. We have our own cool storage containers with a capacity of 20,000 tons. We produce our own apple bags to protect the apples against harmful substances. Of course, we have competitors on the market, such as Yantai Apple, and Akesu Apple from Xinjiang. These brands are regional brands.”
Lv is positive about the next apple season. “The market has been impacted by economic recession this year and an apple oversupply. Sale volumes and prices of apples were low and have decreased considerably in the past of the last few weeks. Our production has implemented standardized industrial systems and we target the premium product market. Our sales this years have experience a small decline, but nothing too serious. This year we witnessed a bumper harvest, which happens every 5 to 10 years. Next year the output is expected to be 5% to 10% lower. This will also improve our sales margins.”
