At the end of 2017's apple season the price was slightly lower compared to the same period last year. Apple prices in 2017 entered a downward trend mainly because in the last few years price quotations in the apple market have been unstable. When apples go on the market, they are not received with great enthusiasm. Buyers prefer to wait and see, so prices have dropped in the last few years.
In the analysis of wholesale prices for apples collected in the last five years we can see a regular development of apple prices with a peak price in September. Looking at the difference between prices in production areas and wholesale prices, we see that the peak of wholesale prices has a distinct delay. The reason is that for new apples to go on the market reserves in production areas are emptied by the end of June, and the remaining apple reserves are also mostly moved from production areas to markets. In the window between June and September when apple supply is low, the price on the wholesale market with apple reserves starts to rise.
In 2017, under the influence of weather conditions, the overall quality of apples in Shandong area declined. Furthermore, the market demand of first and second tier cities for the supply of high quality apples increased. As the supply of high quality apples on the market responded to the urgent demand, the speed of transport was increased, which further raised the price of high quality supply. This caused a trend in the apple market where the price increased because demand for high quality products exceeded supply, yet nobody was interested in the supply of average quality products. This also reflects another aspect of the Chinese market for agricultural products. China does not lack agricultural products, but it lacks good agricultural products.
Source: Yi Mu Tian (www.ymt.com)
