Data from Zhuochuang Information shows that 6.05 million tons of apples were entered in storage in China between January and December 13th, 2018. This is 37% less than the total of 9.66 million tons entered in storage in 2017. Broken down by production areas the numbers are as follows: Shaanxi entered 1.41 million tons in storage, which is a decrease of 50.5%, and Shandong entered around 2.74 million tons in storage, which is a decrease of 16.4%.
Looking back on apple export in 2018 shows a significant decline. The export volume decrease by more than 10% from August onward in comparison with the same period in 2017. China exported only 890 thousand tons of apples in the first 8 months of 2018, which is a decrease of 12.6%. The main reason for this development is that India stopped Chinese apple import in May of 2017.
Chinese apple export to India accounted for 11% of the overall apple export volume in 2016. This number was still 10% in the first months of 2017, which shows how important the Indian market is for Chinese apple export.
Aside from the international market conditions, domestic apple prices also had a major influence on Chinese apple export. The connection between export price and export volume is clear. The export price of Chinese apples increased by more than 5% in 2018, which created some difficulty for apple export. This trend is expected to continue in the first half of 2019.
