Xinhua News Agency, Jinan, May 26th Title: Tracing the origin of fruit price increase: "Last year’s cold spring reduced apple production by 30%"

　　Xinhua News Agency reporters Richard Chang and Teng Junwei

　　Apple 12 yuan/kg, grape 30 yuan/kg, litchi 16 yuan/kg … … Recently, many fruit prices have soared. Why does the price of fruit keep rising? Will the subsequent fruit prices remain at a high level? The reporter went to the sales market and the fruit producing area for investigation.

　　The price of fruit is soaring. On selling high-end fruits.

　　"Four apples cost more than 30 yuan, which is really high." Li Gang, a citizen of Zibo, told reporters that the prices of apples, pears and other fruits are too high recently. "I didn’t really look at the price when I bought it. I got it for tens of dollars. Now I can buy both of them for more than 100 yuan. "

　　Red Fuji apple 12.8 yuan/kg, litchi 16.8 yuan/kg, golden pear 8.98 yuan/kg, newly listed cherry 29.8 yuan/kg … … The reporter saw in a national chain brand fruit supermarket in Xincun West Road, Zibo that most fruit prices were at a high level. The clerk told the reporter that last year, 6 yuan -7 yuan/kg of red Fuji apples and 5 yuan/kg of pears, and this year’s prices generally rose by more than 30% to 40%.

　　The reporter learned that the increase in fruit prices is particularly evident in big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. In the supermarkets in these big cities, some relatively high-end fruits even began to be sold because of the high price of fruits.

　　According to the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, in April, the national consumer price rose by 2.5% year-on-year, among which the price of fresh fruit rose by 11.9%, which affected the CPI increase by about 0.22%.

　　Yang Jun, an analyst of Zhuo Chuang Information Agriculture, said that the current fruit price is generally at a high level, which is caused by many factors. On the one hand, because the stock of fruits in the north is insufficient, it mainly means that the storage of apples and pears is obviously lower than that in the same period of last year; Second, the supply of litchi, longan and other fruits has also decreased because of the reduction of new fruit production in the south. The third is the impact of imported fruits. Some high-end fruits and imported fruits account for an increasing proportion in the fruit consumption of residents.

　　Extreme weather leads to fruit reduction, and many factors push up fruit prices.

　　Qixia, Shandong Province is a traditional apple planting area. Shi Benpeng, a villager from Xinzhuang Village, Guanli Town, Qixia City, is the chairman of an apple production and sales cooperative, which has managed 800 acres of apples.

　　"Last year, the cooperative reduced production by 30%. In previous years, the fruit produced by an acre of land was 5,000 kg to 8,000 kg, and last year it was 3,500 kg to 6,500 kg." Shi Benpeng said that the overall situation in the local area is the same. Some of the low yield is due to the fact that the variety improvement has not yet reached the full fruit stage, but the main reason is the extreme weather last spring.

　　"I came once in April when the apples were in bloom ‘ Cold spring ’ It affected the fruit setting rate, and later encountered extreme weather such as hail, which affected the apple harvest. " Shi Benpeng said.

　　The reporter learned that due to the influence of extreme weather and other factors last year, the overall production in Shandong, Shaanxi and other major apple producing areas in China was reduced by about 30%, resulting in an overall shortage of storage and insufficient supply, which pushed up the price.

　　In addition, in recent years, the transformation of fruit sales methods and the combination of online and offline have increased the bargaining power of fruit farmers. Wang Hongfei, the first secretary of Jiejiagou Village, Xiaomenjia Town, Penglai City, said that the industry in the village is mainly planting red Fuji apples, and a professional fruit and vegetable planting cooperative has been established. At present, the sales are a combination of online and offline.

　　Wang Hongfei believes that the sinking of e-commerce platform provides more convenient conditions for linking agricultural products and consumers, and diversified sales channels give fruit farmers more sales choices and bargaining power to a certain extent. "In the past, the intermediate link was dominant, and now farmers are also beginning to be market-oriented. Wherever the local market is good, the fruit will be transported, and the role of the e-commerce platform cannot be ignored." Wang Hongfei said.

　　Some fruit wholesalers in Yantai and Zibo told reporters that the large-scale reduction in fruit production led to a corresponding decrease in inventory. Take apples as an example. After harvesting in autumn, the cold air storage can be kept until June of the following year, and the controlled atmosphere storage can be kept until new apples come into the market in autumn. "When some hot money of roasted seeds and nuts sees that the inventory of apples is low, they will step in to stock up, thus further raising the wholesale price of fruits." A wholesaler told reporters.

　　Fruits are highly substitutable, and the price remains high and difficult to maintain.

　　In response to the soaring fruit prices, Liu Aihua, a spokesperson for the National Bureau of Statistics, said recently that seasonal short-term shocks are not sustainable and fresh fruit prices will not last at a high level.

　　Yang Jun believes that fruit is a fresh product, which is essentially influenced by the relationship between supply and demand in the market, and the price of sufficient supply will fall; In short supply, prices rose quickly. "However, the substitution effect of fruit is very strong. It is suggested that fruit farmers and buyers should treat production reduction rationally, and do not be too reluctant to sell or hoard goods at high prices."

　　Yang Jun said that during the week from May 17 to 23, the price of apples in Shandong increased rapidly, and the price changed greatly, and the price changed to varying degrees every day. "Since last week, the cold storage in the place of origin has become more reluctant to sell, and it is difficult for merchants to purchase, and the mainstream transaction price has risen sharply."

　　Some experts said that based on the characteristics of fruit products, excessive reluctance to sell or high-priced hoarding of goods is also accompanied by higher risks. With the arrival of summer, after seasonal fruits such as watermelon and melon are listed one after another, the price of fruits will be driven by the price of these fruits to some extent.

　　Jiang Zhongwu, president of Yantai Apple Association, also believes that apples and other fruits are expected to maintain high prices in the short term. "But in August and September, after the new apples come down, this cycle has passed."

　　Yang Jun said that under the background of agricultural supply-side reform, consumers’ consumption concept has also changed, and their acceptance of some high-end fruits and imported fruits is also slowly improving. "This is also forcing the transformation and upgrading of the domestic fruit planting industry."