Cherry Photo: Xinhua
Chinese fruit importers are cutting purchases as the cold market dropped more than half after coronavirus was detected on imported cherries, which may impact exporters from countries in the southern hemisphere.
Shijiazhuang, capital of North China's Hebei Province, which just endured an outbreak that involved hundreds of infections, announced on Sunday the suspension of fruit imports, removal of on-shelf products and sealing stocks. On Saturday, Shijiazhuang detected coronavirus on a batch of imported cherries at a wholesale market.
Before Shijiazhuang's sales ban, the pricey fruit already faced scrutiny after the inner package of some imported cherries tested positive for COVID-19 in Wuxi, East China's Jiangsu Province.
The Global Times found imported cherries being sold at deeply discounted prices in Beijing in recent days, roughly one-third of last year's price.
Wang Li, a Beijing-based imported fruit dealer, told the Global Times on Monday that his orders dropped 60 percent in the past few days and there was almost no business for cherries.
Wang imports cherries from Chile and New Zealand. He also sells bananas from Southeast Asian countries and citrus fruits from Australia and New Zealand, such as oranges and grapefruit.
Chinese Customs have been conducting sampling inspections on imported cherries and other fruits, and Wang is worried that the scrutiny might be heightened, which will definitely slow down import procedures and push up costs.
"I am negotiating with foreign suppliers to cut some orders or postpone them," Wang said.
A Guangzhou-based fruit importer surnamed Yu told the Global Times on Monday that their business has focused on imported cherries in the past two months, but sales halved since the virus-positive news reports. Sales and prices of other imported fruits also dropped dramatically, Yu said.
Deliveries to Shijiazhuang have been suspended following the city's sales ban on imported fruits, and it is unclear whether other cities will follow suit, Yu said. Yu's firm was mulling reducing imports.
Countries in the southern hemisphere are the main suppliers for China in winter due to the opposite season.
Shijiazhuang is on high alert amid its latest outbreak, and other cities are also facing great epidemic control pressure given sporadic domestic infections. The possibility of testing all imports and circuit-breaker mechanisms cannot be ruled out, health experts said.
Feng Zijian, deputy chief of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, reassured the public that being virus-positive on fruits does not equal infectivity. "The virus volume is usually very small and may already have lost activity," Feng said.
But many people still expressed their concerns and chose not to consume imported fruits this year, according to posts on Chinese social media. "It is not something I must have. I'd rather enjoy cherries when COVID-19 is over," a net user said on Sina Weibo.
Some supermarkets in cities including Beijing and Wuxi are presenting negative nucleic acid testing reports with fruits they sell to disperse customers' concerns, according to media reports.