In the past few days, a small number of American cherries have arrived at the Jiaxing Fruit Market, mainly through the wholesale market and into the retail channel. As early as late May, some California cherries arrived in the Chinese market. Due to the earlier arrival time than in previous years, coupled with the pandemic and the launch of domestic cherries in China, American cherries had a greater impact.
There are two main producing areas of cherries in the United States, one in California, which is located on the Gold Coast of the Pacific Ocean. The cherries produced in this place are called "California cherries".
Another producing area in the northwestern region of the United States, mainly includes five states of Washington (accounting for about 85% of the total Northwest cherry production), Montana, Oregon and Utah. The cherries produced in these five states are called "Northwest cherries." Among them, California cherries are the first to be on the market.
In recent years, due to the impact of the pandemic and the Sino-US trade war, the import volume of American cherries has continued to be sluggish. Coupled with the growing air freight, the price of American cherries in the Chinese market is very high. In contrast, Chinese domestic cherries are more popular with Chinese consumers.
Before long, there will be a large number of cherries from the United States in the Chinese market, and cherries from Canada will gradually arrive as well.
Production cuts are a foregone conclusion
After last year's high production in various production areas in the United States, production usually decreases in the second year. In addition, severe weather has occurred frequently in California and the Northwest producing areas this year, which has had a great impact on the production of cherries. The production cut is a foregone conclusion. It is expected that the overall production this year may drop by 15% to 20% compared with last year, and the price of cherries in the United States this year may be higher than in previous years.
Chelan is currently the mainstream variety of Northwest cherries in the United States. It ripens earlier than Bing and has a brown-red color; Coral is one of the main varieties of early American cherries shipped by air, bright red in color, with short stems.
Source: Fresh-China