China: Citrus Up 10%
12 December 2006 China’s citrus production is forecast at more than 16 million metric tons (MMT) in 2006, up 10% from the 14.5 MMT produced in 2005, a US Department of Agriculture Foreign Agriculture Service (USDA-FAS) report stated. The improvement is due to new bearings and favorable weather conditions in major producing provinces.
Orange production for fresh consumption and processing is expected to increase dramatically (4.8 MMT in 2006, up 8% from 4.45 MMT in MY 2005) and continue to grow over the next five to 10 years as new plantings become mature. Exports to neighboring countries continue to grow quickly as the quantity and quality of domestically grown citrus improves. Orange imports are also expected to increase, especially during the off-season, due to consumption growth for high quality fruit.
Orange increases came from new bearings in the southern Jiangxi province and the southwestern Chongqing municipality, which has received government support applied to relocating citrus farmers in the Three Gorges area. Mandarin production is forecast at 9 MMT, up 12% from 8.05 MMT, due largely to the recovery of mandarin production in the top producing province of Zhejiang from the previous year’s crop failure as a result of adverse weather conditions.
Fruit quality keeps improving as a result of wider adoption of standardized farming practices and the farming model shifting from increased quantity to higher quality. Consolidated farming is slowly improving with the involvement of packers and traders in the course of the production cycle. Cleaning, sorting and waxing have become more common.
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