Chinese imports and exports are invested by a number of factors, including the current price of loading, back logs in destinations, the valuation of the Chinese yuan, the inflation of the US dollar and recurring expenses of Covid-19.
“Many horticultural products find serious barriers in the export market this year,” says Wang Junjie, sales director at Jining Shangzhuo Food.
The period in which traders supply their packing stations with garlic is almost over. The horticulturists still have a lot of garlic in their possession, but the poorly preserved garlic is already running out. The price of garlic falls again, after a short rise. The FOB price of 5.0 cm, 5.5 cm, and 6.0 cm (standard 10kg bags) from China to Rotterdam is around € 1017. That’s a little cheaper than a few weeks ago.
“The overall loading price is still rising. In the period between 15 and 30 August, loading between Qingdao and Felixstowe in the UK costs about €12,724 – € 13,572 per container. A calculation of the individual costs amounts to about € 576 / tonne, ” says Wang Junjie.
As far as Chinese ginger is concerned, the price is slightly lower than two months ago. The current FOB price from Qingdao to Rotterdam is about € 1145 / ton.
Apart from the extraordinarily high cost of loading, another disadvantage for Chinese ginger exports is the low price of Brazilian and Thai ginger. And the upgrading of the Chinese yuan also makes Chinese ginger less attractive to overseas importers. All these factors lead to a situation where overseas demand for Chinese ginger is weak. There are hardly any traders from Europe and North America who inquire about prices for Chinese ginger.
The onion market is different
The situation at the onion market is different. The FOB price of yellow onions shipped from Qingdao to Rotterdam is currently around € 254 / tonne. Users and exporters buy their onions mainly from Gansu. The weather conditions were excellent this season, so the yield increased. Gansu is a major producer of onions in China. The weather conditions and soil conditions are good for onion growing. The onion yield in Gansu is huge, the product quality excellent and the onions are popular with overseas buyers.
“The added value of onions is not high and rising transport costs are an obstacle to onion exports. We have recently exported only a small quantity #35-50 onions for a factory price of € 466 / ton. That’s more expensive than last year. Onions that do not look so good are often bought by processing companies that make cubes of them. The shelf life of frozen onion cubes is quite long, so that price fluctuations on this market are smaller. That is why some restaurants have recently switched to frozen onion cubes instead of fresh onions.”
Jining Shangzhuo Food is a company that specializes in the export of garlic, ginger and onions. The company has an annual export of 2,000 containers.
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