The price of pomelo has plummeted, and the market of grapefruit varieties has been in the doldrums.

At present, it is the season when grapefruit is concentrated and mature in China. In recent years, grapefruit varieties have been upgraded obviously, and many high-quality varieties in the past have fallen to the altar, the purchase price is low, and the market is slow.

Take the most traditional white meat grapefruit as an example, the price of white pomelo in Pinghe, Fujian Province is as low as 0.5-0.6 yuan per jin, and the wholesale price in Jiaxing fruit market is no more than 1 yuan per jin. This year, not only white meat grapefruit has lost its market, but also red pomelo and Sanhong pomelo are in the doldrums. The purchase price of red pomelo in Pinghe producing area is only 0.8 yuan / jin, the wholesale price of Sanhong pomelo is 1.4-1.6 yuan / jin in Jiaxing fruit market, and 1.2-1.3 yuan / jin in Hongxin pomelo. It is understood that at present, the acquirer is not willing to receive the goods. They said that the market competition is too big, the delivery of goods is already very slow, and the acquisition of origin can only be suspended for a while.

In the past two years, after the emergence of red pomelo and Sanhong pomelo, grapefruit quickly became popular in the grapefruit industry, won the favor of the consumer market, and soon became popular in the wholesale market. To this year, grapefruit has been popular for three years, other varieties of grapefruit have been affected by it, the market continues to be depressed. This year, many growers had planned to rely on grapefruit to achieve another bumper harvest, but the reality is once again disappointing. Grapefruit ripens a month later than traditional grapefruit, and grapefruit ripens around the end of September this year. Originally, farmers thought grapefruit would be as popular as in previous years, but this year's market hit them directly in the face. Grapefruit just listed at the end of September ushered in the purchase price of 4 yuan per jin, the result is about the same as in previous years. But then the market soon deteriorated, and the purchase price continued to fall. As of October 16, the purchase price of the place of origin has fallen to 1.5 yuan per jin, more than half of that of 20 days ago.

The market of almost all grapefruit varieties is in the doldrums this year, mainly for the following reasons. On the one hand, due to the influence of climate and other factors, the listing time of Hainan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, and Yunnan honey pomelo has not been opened this year, and the shipment volume is large in a short period of time, which to a certain extent lowers the price; on the other hand, it is the sales difficulties caused by the epidemic. Now, affected by the epidemic, export freight has risen, and many grapefruit that should have been exported have turned to the domestic market for sales, increasing competition in the domestic grapefruit market. It costs more than $10,000 for a container to travel from China to the Netherlands, which takes four or even seven weeks. This not only makes the price of Chinese grapefruit imported from abroad higher, but also many foreign importers have chosen to give up their imports.

In recent years, the growth of China's pomelo exports has been limited, and now there are even signs of shrinking. Statistics show that by 2020, China's annual export of grapefruit is only 170000 tons, less than 5% of the total domestic output of grapefruit. By contrast, the number of imported grapefruit is increasing significantly. China's import volume of grapefruit has increased from 30, 000 tons in 2015 to about 80, 000 tons in 2020, and the import quota has also increased from $36.66 million to $78.68 million.

In addition, the increase in domestic pomelo production will lead to a change in the relationship between supply and demand, which will lead to a long-term downturn in the grapefruit industry. A few years ago, the price of grapefruit was even close to 6 yuan / jin, even in the grapefruit producing area, the purchase price was also sold to 2-3 yuan / jin. Grapefruit compared with other fruits, the fruit is larger, monomer up to 4-5 jin. And grapefruit is very high-yielding, the yield per mu can reach more than 5000-6000 jin. According to the calculation of the purchase of 2 yuan per jin in the market at that time, the gross profit of one mu of grapefruit reached tens of thousands of yuan, which stimulated the growers' desire to expand their species. Statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Village show that the output of grapefruit in China has increased rapidly since 2003. In 2018, the planting area of grapefruit has reached 1.4 million mu, and the output has exceeded 5 million tons. And this figure is still growing. According to incomplete statistics, by 2020, the annual output of grapefruit has reached 5.227 million tons. It is no exaggeration to say that the current domestic grapefruit market has moved towards a situation of supply saturation and even overcapacity. At the same time, high-speed seed expansion makes more and more novices pour into the industry, the planting mode and management level are uneven, and there are great differences in the quality of grapefruit.