It is difficult to make money by growing apples: the price of apples is falling due to the oversupply of apples this winter.

Qingdao, Shandong: apples sell radish prices in excess of demand this winter, resulting in falling prices. It is difficult for fruit farmers to make money.

Every autumn and winter is when a large number of apples appear on the market, local Jin Shuai, Yantai Red Fuji, * Aksu. Come to green to seize the market one after another. Recently, the reporter visited and found that although it is the season of "a hundred fruits blooming" in the island city again, this year's apple market is not as hot as in previous years, and the price of some apples has even dropped to more than 1 yuan per jin. Some industry insiders said that apple production has increased year after year, and the imbalance between supply and demand is the main reason for the shrinking price, and fruit growers are advised to develop online sales and open up export markets.

Market

Apple in many places is grabbing the market

Yesterday, the reporter learned from Qingdao Dongfang Dingxin International Agricultural and sideline products Trading Center that Apple's daily trading volume in the market is about 2000 tons. "now our local apples in Qingdao and Yantai account for about 70% of the market * Aksu apples account for 20%, and the rest are Shaanxi, Shanxi and other places as well as a small number of imported apples." Yuan Ming, the person in charge of Qingdao Dongfang Dingxin International Agricultural and sideline products Trading Center, said that every year around May Day, apples began to appear on the market one after another, and the earliest varieties were produced in Gala, Shaanxi, but in relatively small quantities; around National Day holiday, a large number of apples began to appear on the market in the province, and at present, the main varieties are Red Fuji and Jinshuai, and the main producing areas are Yantai and Qingdao Pingdu and Laixi.

According to Yuan Ming, Red Fuji Apple currently occupies the mainstream of the market, of which Red Fuji from Qixia is more popular, Yantai Apple also chooses to come to Qingdao every autumn and winter to seek business opportunities, while the local Red Fuji is improving year by year with its output and quality improving year by year, the market is also getting bigger and bigger, and many southern traders have set their sights on Pingdu and Lacey apples. "there is another situation, because the price of Yantai apple is generally on the low side this year, so it squeezes the market share of other apple producing areas in China, and the market share of non-local apples such as Shaanxi is obviously on the small side this year." Yuan Ming said. In addition, the reporter also learned that Aksu Apple from * gradually has its own customer base, the characteristics of ice candy heart and exquisite gift box packaging have become the selling point of Aksu Apple to seize the market. Nowadays, the apple market in the island city presents a situation of "a hundred fruits blooming" and "a hundred fruits competing for beauty".

"Red Fuji apples are sold cheaply, 2 yuan a jin. Come and have a look." At the Fushun Road Wholesale Market, the reporter found that in the fruit sales area, Apple has become the protagonist of the fruit stall, with Red Fuji, Jin Shuai, Guoguang, Aksu and other varieties all have a place in the vendors' stalls. "now the most sold are Red Fuji and Jin Shuai, of which Red Fuji accounts for a large proportion." Talking about Apple's business this year, the stall owner, Mr. Zhang, sighed and said helplessly that Apple was almost selling turnips this year. Mr. Zhang said that at his stall, Red Fuji sells for only 2 yuan per jin, while smaller ones sell for 10 yuan for 7 jin, while Jin Shuai costs even cheaper, about 1.5 yuan per jin. "the overall price of these varieties is 20% to 30% cheaper than in previous years." Mr. Zhang said.

In addition to the more affordable bulk apple price reduction, the reporter learned that some brand apples with beautiful packaging and good appearance are also more friendly to the people this year. "boxes of Qixia apples are now sold for only 80 yuan, and the quality is better than before, but the price is more than 10 yuan cheaper." Mr. Zhang said. At the Qingdao Dongfang Dingxin International Agricultural and sideline products Trading Center, Yuan Ming said that on December 1, the wholesale price of red Fuji apples with a diameter of 80 mm was about 2 yuan per jin, more than 20% cheaper than in 2015 and more than 30% cheaper than the year before last.

At the farmers' market on Zhenjiang North Road, the reporter saw that the prices of Qixia Red Fuji were mostly 10 yuan for 4 jin and 10 yuan for 5 jin, and the merchants played billboards such as "producing and selling themselves" and "crispy and sweet", but business was still cold. "the price at this time last year was about 1 yuan higher than it is now, but the sales volume is good, but it can't be sold even though it is cheap this year." Ms. Wang, the owner of the fruit stall, told reporters that apple sales have been unable to come up this year, and some apple vendors are scrambling to cut prices, which has led to a persistent downturn in apple prices this winter.

Settle accounts

Fruit growers complain that it is difficult to make money.

"the cost of planting is high, but the price has come down. It's not easy to make money for apples this year!" Yesterday, the reporter interviewed Sun Xuehao, a fruit farmer in Panjialing Village, Guanli Town, Qixia City, Yantai. He said that last year his family just cut down some old fruit trees that had been planted for many years and replaced them with a new crop of fruit trees. As the new fruit trees have yet to bear fruit, the harvest this year is not good, with a total of more than 50,000 apples.

Sun Xuehao told reporters that there are still many local fruit growers like him, and under normal circumstances, the following expenses are needed to manage orchards every year: Apple bags, fertilizer, oil for agricultural vehicles, hiring people to bag, pick bags, pick apples, and so on. "there are fewer apples at home this year, so we don't hire anyone to bag, pick or pick apples, which saves a lot of money." 'but even so, the cost of managing our apple trees this year has reached tens of thousands of yuan, 'Mr. Sun said. According to Sun Xuehao, there are still many large apple growers in their village, and the family needs to hire people to help them with more than ten mu of orchards every year. According to this year's market, bagging is 260 yuan per person per day, picking bags is 150 yuan per person per day, and picking apples is 130 yuan per person per day. "for example, when a family hires three people for bagging, it will be done in eight days. In a short period of eight days, the cost of hiring people alone will be 6240 yuan." Sun Xuehao said that some large local apple growers over the past year, excluding their own labor costs, the visible cost alone reached 40 to 50, 000 yuan.

Door and road