China: A promising market outlook for figs

"Every year around the beginning of July, the bumper harvest of figs starts in Pengzhou county and lasts until the end of December. This year, the weather has been relatively stable and thus the yields are expected to slightly increase by approximately 5 to 10 percent compared to last year," said Mr. Yong Tang from a fig plantation in Pengzhou.

Freshly-picked figs
"Our fig plantation is located in Pengzhou, Chengdu and here we have a total area of around 10 acres with about 1,000 fig trees. Our varieties include Bojihong, Masui Dauphine and peel figs. In addition, we have here more than 20,000 seedlings. Currently, we sell our figs in traditional ways through three channels: the seedlings are sold across the country; some figs are sold to local wholesale markets and the rest to end consumers who visit the plantation."

"Currently, the total fig cultivation area in China is only approximately 160,000 acres, much smaller than most of other fruit species. As a fruit variety with both economic and ecological benefits, figs have high nutritional and medicinal values, including antihypertension and lipid-lowering effects.
In recent years, as people have enjoyed better living standards and attach more value to a healthy diet, figs have become more and more popular in the market."