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 | Tuesday, April 25, 2000, updated at 13:19(GMT+8) | ||||||||||||
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Higher Costs to Limit Effect of US Citrus ImportsAs American citrus was unloaded at Chinese ports in Dalian in Liaoning Province and the city of Tianjin last week, domestic concerns about the new imports were muted."Native fruit will not yield to the exotic ones so easily," said Wang Yishou, director of the Research Centre of Fruit Trees in Zhengzhou, capital of Central China's Henan Province. According to the Agreement of US-China Agricultural Co-operation signed last April, pest-free and high-quality citrus can enter the Chinese market without quantity limitation. The first 20-ton container of Sunkist-brand oranges arrived at Dalian on Wednesday. China, with its large population and fastest developing economy in the world, has been targeted as a great potential market by many international businesses, including fruit planters. Actually, in recent years, dazzlingly exotic fruits such as durians and bananas from Thailand and the Philippines have found their way to Chinese store shelves regardless of the season. But their high prices put them out of the reach of ordinary people who are more ready to open their pockets to good but inexpensive domestically-produced fruit. Wang said China, as one of the world's largest fruit producers, has a great oversupply each year, which has enabled domestic fruit to become a daily necessity because of their acceptable prices. He said domestic fruit holds "undoubtedly" a lion's share of the market. Price is a critical thing when it comes to fruit. At a fruit stand in Beijing's Chaoyang District, four American apples delicately packed in a small box are priced at 25 yuan (US$3), the same price as a whole basket - about 10 kilograms - of domestic apples. "With five yuan or six yuan, a student can eat fruit at least one each day," said Di Shuanglong, owner of a fruit store near the University of International Business and Economics. Even foreign residents in the city enjoy good, but inexpensive, Chinese fruit products. "With an incredibly small sum of money, I can buy a whole basket of apples or pears by the roadside," said Tom Sharp, an American employee of the Kimberly-Clark (China) Investment Co. Wang from the Research Centre of Fruit Trees said that, with more advanced technologies and manpower being used in the innovation of fruit trees, domestically produced fruit is by no means inferior to foreign brands in terms of nutrition. Xiao Dong, a salesman at the Beijing Junefield Sogo Department Store said that domestic fruit is safe and sells well in a competitive market. "Comparatively, home and foreign fruit have respective advantages and enjoy rather fixed consumer groups," Xiao said.
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