"At the present stage, all varieties of late maturing citrus are listed intensively; the 72-1 navel orange from Chongqing area and the late maturing oranges from the Hubei area are the two main varieties. In the South and Hunan regions, the oranges picked last winter have entered the final stage and the picking period is expected to end in April - but the current supply is limited. Generally speaking, the citrus market is clearly in short supply," says Mr. Yuanfei Gu from the Shenzhen Tian Mu Agricultural Development Co. Ltd.
"Last year, many of the major citrus producing areas were affected by the HLB disease; among them, Guangdong, Guangxi and the Jiangxi producing areas were damaged the most seriously. A substantial reduction in the country directly led to a tension between supply and demand for citrus products, the purchase price soared at the beginning of last winter, which has led to the record price of domestic navel oranges. Prices at origin have soared to 10 yuan per kilogram, while in the Sichuan province the purchase price rose from 6 yuan per kilogram up to 20 yuan per kilogram. It is predicted that the citrus sales prices will continue to be strong.
"This year, the HLB situation has been greatly improved, which is mainly due to the effective prevention and control measures that domestic citrus experts put forward. Not only better management of the seedlings and the new trees, but also the uprooting of diseased trees. In addition, the government departments are also actively planning for an early resumption for the orchards that were damaged by HLB.
In terms of sales, we not only sell to some major cities through domestic businesses and wholesalers, we have also maintained a stable relationship with Freshow, as well as the high-end fruit juice suppliers."
"Nationwide, the total yield of domestic navel orange is larger in the second half of the year. Most of the time, the market presents oversupply. The production is less in the first six months and we have to meet the market demand by importing oranges, which is mainly due to the relatively small producing area of the late maturing oranges, concentrated in Sichuan, Chongqing and Hubei province. The total annual output is less than 100 thousand tons. In order to fill the market vacancy, in addition to the 2000 mu plantation for late maturing navel oranges, our company is also planning to vigorously develop and build a larger base in Guangxi province of China."
