Following the conclusion of 2024’s Cherry Conference in Jiaxing, the production season 2024-2025 for Chilean cherries has officially begun. The traffic in the Jiaxing market for fruit, which includes the import and domestic trading zones, has experienced the most significant increase. The week from December 17 to 23, when sea-freight cherries began to arrive in massive amounts, the market activity exploded. The volume of traffic increased by almost 15% when compared with the week prior (December 10-16) in which sea-freights cherries began arriving. The volume of trade in cherries increased by 108.5 percentage week-to-week. This was accompanied by the average cost of Y=88.7 per kilogram, which is an 18.3 percentage decrease in month-on-month.

This pattern continued through the week following (December 24-30) in which the market amount of cherries grew in another 53.71 percentage compared with previous week. The average value dropped even further, to Y=79.07 per kilo, indicating an 10.87 percent decrease month-on-month.

Presently, the total supply of cherries available on the market is growing and will lead to more prices falling. This is attributed to two major reasons: record-breaking harvest in Chile and the region where production of cherry has increased by 40% and also the adverse impact of e-commerce platforms. They attract significant consumers customers by providing extremely affordable prices. These although not necessarily competitive with the first and second-level wholesale market prices, are considerably lower than that of regular retail stores. This has meant that small and mid-sized stores have experienced substantial losses with ripple effects that have swept through Wholesale markets.

From the point of view of sales on the market, in spite of the drop in price, premium and premium-brand fruits remain highly sought-after. However, many online stores favor smaller, less-quality fruit, since consumers increasingly choose low-cost fruits for promotional purposes or to generate traffic. This has led to a slowdown in selling of moderate-sized fruits creating challenges for business owners.

The Chilean Fruit Exporters Association has intensified its efforts to promote the Chilean fruit exporters association this year. Due to the general economic downturn and the slowing of market sales has slowed considerably compared to the previous year. Based on statistics, between November 10 until December 30 there was a significant increase in the volume of transactions cherries sold in Jiaxing Fruit Market increased by 170.45%. Jiaxing Fruit Market increased by 170.45 percentage year-on-year. But, the price dropped to Y=95.47 per kg. This is an increase of 23.07 percentage decrease from year to year. However, despite the decrease in prices the purchasing power of downstream markets is still not enough, making an opportunity for more price reductions. In the coming year “cherry freedom” could be finally within all consumers’ reach.

Source: Jiaxing fruit market