China's Import & Export of Citrus Fruit and Its Products

DENG Xiuxin
(Citrus research Institute, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei 430070, P. R. China)

General Situation of the Citrus Industry in China

Consumption Situation of Citrus Fruits in China

Import and Export Situation of Citrus Fruit and Its Products

• Exports
• Imports
• The Future Perspective

SUMMARY

Citrus production in China has been increasing sharply in the past 20 years. However, the export volume is still small accounting for only 2% of the total production, amounting to about 200 thousand metric tonnes recently. At the same time, China has imported more and more citrus fruits, and the import volume recently reached to more than 60 thousand metric tonnes. In the past 16 years, the export volume increased by 1.8 fold, while the import volume by 11.3 fold. At present, China maintains a favourable balance of citrus trade. However, the trend suggests that the situation could not last for too long. China's main citrus products for export are mandarin and pomelo, and the key import categories are sweet orange and lemon. Most of the citrus juice on the Chinese market is imported from Brazil, USA etc. The main exporters of citrus fruit to China are USA and New Zealand. The destinations of China's citrus fruits are the nearby countries and areas, of which South East Asia and Russia account for more than 85%.

1. GENERAL SITUATION OF THE CITRUS INDUSTRY IN CHINA

In the early 1950s, China produced only about 210 thousand tonnes of citrus fruits. In the subsequent 50 years, the industry has seen several big leaps forward and its production has increased to about 10 million metric tonnes (MT). Before 1970, citrus production had been stagnant because it was deemed as a side-line production while only grain was considered as the key item of production. From 1970-1980, citrus production increased a little, total output just doubled in 10 years. After 1978 when the nation wide rural reform was carried out, citrus production increased sharply. In 1982, the total production came to near one million MT. The industry was further promoted by the liberated market, higher profitability and less labour intensity. Since 1982, the production has been almost doubled every 4 years. In 1997, the national citrus production amounted to more than 10 million MT, and China ranked as the 3^rd largest citrus producer in the world.

One can easily draw some conclusions by reviewing China's developing history of citrus. Firstly, the increase of total production relies on the expanding of the citrus acreage. Based on the statistics, the citrus acreage in 1952 was about 32 thousand hectares, and increased by about 40 times to1.2 million hectares in 1998. In the same period, the production increased by less than 40 times, from 230 thousand to 8.39 million MT in volume. This fact means that the yield did not increase in past decades. Second, the immature citrus orchards in China occupy much larger surfaces than that in the developed countries, which is on average less than 10%, compared to about 30% of the acreage in China. This is also a reason for the lower yield. At present, the average yield per hectare is about 7.5 MT, much lower than the international level of about 15 MT/hectare. Third, the per household citrus acreage does not expand when the total acreage increases. This means that the expansion of total acreage is in fact coupled with the emergence of more small holders. The average acreage per household is small, which increases the difficulty of quality and variety control of the product. However, recently, the local governments and the farmers themselves have paid closer attention to this situation and are trying to organize the small holders into associations to share market information and technique, which will promote the industry and benefit farmers and the local economy.

2. CONSUMPTION SITUATION OF CITRUS FRUITS IN CHINA

Most of the citrus fruit in China is consumed fresh. This situation is in part related to the variety structure. Near 60% of the total production is loose skin mandarin. This type of citrus is not good for making juice except some varieties that are suitable for making canned product. The low income level, diet habit of table fruits and easy peeling character cause most consumers to be partial to loose skin citrus. At present, less than 5% of the total production is processed, and mainly for canned segments which are largely exported to Japan and USA Since early 1980s, this product has been of decreasing importance in the domestic market.

Because varieties mature at different times and in light of the inverted seasons between the north and south hemisphere, citrus fruit can easily supply the market year around. However, about 80% of the citrus fruits in China mature from late October to the end of December. From the New Years Day through the Chinese Spring Festival is the golden time of citrus market. The domestic product can meet the demand of the market from end-September to April. But, after April, the production of late maturing varieties such as summer orange or late mature navel orange is not enough to meet the demand. The domestic summer orange Valencia can only be seen in the production areas for a short period. During April to September, citrus fruits in the super markets are mainly imported from California, Australia, South Africa and Israel etc. In fact, imported citrus fruit can be bought year around in the super markets, starred hotels and shopping centres. During the seasons when the domestic citrus fruits are available in the market, consumers prefer to buy the domestic products, because the price of the imported citrus fruits is generally 100% higher than the domestic ones with the same quality. During the off season, because of the higher price compared to other domestic fruits, consumers of the imported citrus fruit are only limited to high income people. Moreover, consumers of the imported navel orange have a common impression that the imported navel has shining skin and better taste. Recently, we analyzed the samples of navel from California and the main navel orange from producing areas in China. Results showed that Californian navel had a better outer appearance, but its total soluble solid is 1.5-3 points lower than the domestic ones; the domestic navel had stronger flavour than the imported navel. This analysis confirmed the common impression of the consumer.

3. IMPORT AND EXPORT SITUATION OF CITRUS FRUIT AND ITS PRODUCTS

Table 1

Import and export of citrus in China during 1985-2000 (Unit 1000 U.S dollars, MT)

From China customs statistics

Exports

The export volume had increased by 1.8 times from about 70 thousand MT to 200 thousand MT from 1985 to 2000; and the export value reached to US$46.51 million in 2000, 38.7% higher compared to 1985. But, the import volume and value had increased by 11.3 and 12.7 times respectively during the same period. The net export volume of citrus during this period increased just by 1.1 times, and the net export value increased by minus 43.7% (table1). These data indicate that the volume of export had increased, but the price for export dropped down, reflecting the deterioration of the trade environment.

In 1999 China exported 176 thousand MT of citrus fruit valued at US$41.637 million. Among them, loose skin citrus (mandarin and tangerine) accounted for 91.70%, sweet orange 2.71%, pomelo 2.4%, lemon less than 0.1% and the others 3.16% (Fig 1). In terms of destination, 18.6% of the total export was for Hong Kong, 17.0% for Singapore, 15.2% for the Philippines, 13.3% for Malaysia, 10.7% for Viet Nam, 4.0% for Indonesia, 8.5% for Russia and 11.2% for Canada. These countries and areas account for 98.3% of the total.

Fig. 1. The exported citrus fruits of China in 1999

In 2000, the export volume slightly increased, and reached 200 thousand MT. The export destinations did not change much, 98% of the fruits were exported to South East Asia, Russia and Canada.

Besides fresh fruits, China also exports some processed products, including about 160 thousand MT canned citrus segments, mainly to Japan and USA, 33 MT of citrus jam and jelly in 1998/99, and 197 MT in 1999/2000,1000 MT of frozen orange juice and 900 MT of non-frozen orange juice in 1999/00.

Table 2

Exports of citrus fruit during 1999-2000 (MT)

Imports

China has steadily increased the import of citrus and its products. In 1999, China imported 29,685 MT of citrus fruits. 80.0% were sweet orange, 15.0% mandarin type, 8.3% lemon and 5.3% grapefruit. The main origin places included New Zealand, South Africa and USA etc. Surprisingly, the imported volume in 2000 increased to 61,861 MT, not including those smuggled. The major origin places were USA, New Zealand and Thailand, these three countries totalled 96.5%, with USA in particular having a sharp increase, which mainly resulted from the conclusion of the Sino-USA Agricultural Agreement

In addition to the fresh fruits, China imported 143 MT of citrus jam and jelly in 1998/99, 737 MT in 1999/2000 (Oct-Aug), and 5300 MT of frozen orange juice and about 3200 MT of non- frozen juice in 1998/99.

Table 3

Imports of citrus fruits during 1999-2000 in China

From tables 2 and 3, it can be easily found that China exported mainly mandarin, and pomelo, but imported sweet orange and lemon. Orange juice is a major imported commodity.

It should be pointed out that the foreign citrus fruits on the Chinese market were from 2 resources: direct import from the producers and indirect import from Hong Kong. According to the statistics of Hong Kong, Hong Kong re-exported 37,224 MT citrus fruits to China in 1998/99 market year, and 27352 MT during the period from Oct 1999 to June 2000. Combining together, the imported citrus fruit on the Chinese Market was 62,081 MT in total in the year 1998/99, including 52,903 MT of sweet orange, 3,977 MT of lemon, 2,570 MT of loose skin mandarin and 2,624 MT of grapefruit. However, in the recent 3 years, the re-export amount from Hong Kong has decreased gradually, coupled with the increase of direct import of citrus by China. The data indicates that China imported 8,390 MT citrus in 1997/98 and increased to 52,418 MT in 1999/2000 confirms this finding.

Seasons of import and export: China exports mainly loose skin mandarin from December to January. Import usually commences after February with the peak from June to September. This fact coincides with the growing season and reflects another weak point of Chinese citrus industry, i.e. from April to September, domestic citrus fruit production is not sufficient to meet the market demand.

The future perspective

In the next 5 years, China's export volume of citrus fruit will increase further, and the export will still be dominated by loose skin mandarin. There are good prospects for China's exports of mandarins due to the increasing mandarin consumption in developed countries. The mandarin variety grown in China is not the Clementine type that is known in European and North American markets. Ponkan, one of the best mandarin varieties in China and the seedless pomelo that has recently been developed have good quality and will have strong market competitiveness.

Sweet orange, especially the navel orange, is "cold" in nature according to the Chinese traditional medical theory and is good for health. Its consumption will increase gradually. The domestic sweet orange will be utilized as fresh for meeting the domestic market. To meet the market demand in the off seasons, import of sweet orange will further increase.

With the speeding up of the tempo life in this country, more and more orange juice will be consumed and the supply of juice will still largely rely on imports, at least in the next 5 years.

Table 4

Volume of citrus fruit imported from Hong Kong unit: MT