With the impact of COVID-19, consumers' demand for fruits rich in vitamin C increased. According to the latest report of the US Department of agriculture, the consumption of fresh orange in China in the 2020-2021 quarter is expected to increase from 7 million 240 thousand tons in 2019-2020 to 7 million 360 thousand tons.
From the perspective of fresh orange imports, if China's economy recovers well, the import volume of fresh orange is expected to increase slightly from 288000 tons in 2019-2020 to 290000 tons in 2020-2021. At present, the main orange exporting countries are Egypt, South Africa, Australia, the United States and Spain. From 2019 to 2020, China's import of fresh oranges dropped sharply. Before that, China's import of fresh oranges had been growing for seven consecutive years. This is mainly due to the stagnation of domestic port logistics and transportation around the Spring Festival in 2020 due to the serious impact of the new crown. From 2019 to 2020, China's orange imports from Egypt decreased by 41%, South Africa by 15%, Australia by 37% and Spain by 80%.
From the perspective of fresh orange export, with the recovery of logistics, the increase of fresh orange production, economic recovery, and the increase of international market demand, China's fresh orange export volume from 2020 to 2021 will increase by 5% over the previous production quarter, reaching 55000 tons. From the export data of 2019-2020, Vietnam accounts for 60% of China's total exports of fresh oranges, but the total exports are still 18% lower than last year. Other major export markets include the Philippines, Malaysia, Russia, Hong Kong and Thailand.