Substantial decline of Chinese apple exports in 2018

Data from Zhuochuang Information shows that 6.05 million tons of apples were entered in storage in C…

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.