"The main production sites for Chinese dragon fruit are located in the country's Southern provinces of Hainan, Guangxi, Guangdong and Fujian. Dragon fruit can be divided into three kinds: red skin with white flesh, red skin with red flesh and yellow skin with white flesh. Among those, the dragon fruit with red flesh is the most popular among Chinese consumers. The fruit has a lot of anthocyanin, and when it is cut is shows a bright red color immediatly. The taste is also a lot sweeter than that of the white fleshed dragon fruit," states Mr. Liu Yongliang from the Jinxiang Hao Le Dragon Fruit Growers Expert Association.
"Compared to other fruit varieties, production costs for growing dragon fruits in greenhouses are rather high, but the growing process saves labor, time, and effort. The market value is also higher. The northern production areas of dragon fruits have been expanding every year. Our dragon fruit greenhouses are located in Jinxiang county in Jining, Shandong. They take up around 2 hectares (20 mu), where we only produce dragon fruits with red flesh. The production volume per mu is 2000 to 3000 kg. Around 80% of our total dragon fruit production is sold abroad. For the other 20% we cooperate with e-commerce platforms."
"Every year, the harvesting of dragon fruits starts at the beginning of June, and ends at the end of December. This year, when the trees started to blossom, the Jinxiang climate was stable, without any extreme weather. That is why the dragon fruit production volume has not changed much compared to last year. The current market price is also similar to last year's."
