Domestic cherry varieties improve in taste and quality, poised to win over the cherries market
Right now is the season when cherries ripen. Besides domestic cherry varieties selling for twenty to thirty yuan per jin on the market, on some e-commerce platforms and in shopping malls and supermarkets, domestic cherries from regions such as Dalian and Yantai are favored by many consumers for their taste and quality, which are closing in on imported cherries.
Right now is the season when cherries ripen. Besides domestic cherry varieties selling for twenty to thirty yuan per jin on the market, on some e-commerce platforms and in shopping malls and supermarkets, domestic cherries from regions such as Dalian and Yantai are favored by many consumers for their taste and quality, which are closing in on imported cherries.
Domestic cherries are now targeting the mid-to-high-end market, hoping to forge a path of comeback, and at the same time wanting consumers to taste the good quality and low price of “domestic cherries.”
High cost-performance, domestic cherries are in demand
When we speak of cherries, the first impression is bound to be “imported high-end fresh fruit.” But this year, we will come to know the charm of “domestic cherries.” At MissFresh, Hema Fresh and fruit supermarkets, domestic cherries have for the first time put up the “domestic cherry” sign, and are favored by many consumers.
Recently, Meizao cherries from Dalian have become a hot seller on the MissFresh e-commerce platform. One diner said: “Domestic cherries used to be very small, and they did not taste good either, on the sour side, but now this kind of cherry tastes especially sweet, and I really like it.” As for its price of 69 yuan per box, the diner feels the cost-performance is high.
Previously, shops generally sold imported cherries, and the price was also very high, over 100 yuan per jin. Today, we are trying to promote Dalian cherries, priced at about 70 yuan per jin, and the sales volume is very good, with several hundred jin sold in a single day at peak times. The improvement in quality plus a price cheaper than imported cherries is the reason domestic cherries are thriving in the mid-to-high-end market.
Doubled sweetness, cherries can also go into greenhouses
In the red cherry orchard in Xiji, Tongzhou, cherries dwarfed by a section have been planted in facility greenhouses, which is very convenient for the management of the cherry trees and the picking of the fruit. In the greenhouse, we can monitor values such as temperature and humidity at any time, and lighting, watering and fertilizing are all automatically adjusted according to the monitored values. Through scientific management, this extends the cherry growing period, allowing the cherries to fully ripen, with larger size and sweeter taste. When testing the cherries in the park, the fruit weight was close to 20 grams, and the sweetness also exceeded 20 degrees. Compared with imported cherries from Chile and New Zealand, domestic facility-grown cherries are fully confident from appearance to sweetness.
In addition, facility cultivation can also control the time cherries reach the market, letting cherries go on sale from March to May each year, seizing the gap in supply between imported cherries and domestic open-air cherries. This allows the benefit of cherries to reach as much as 8 to 10 times that of ordinary open-air cultivation.
Domestic cold chain boosts cherries to “grab freshness”
While the quality of domestic cherries improves, the development of domestic cold-chain logistics has also become a major boost for the comeback of domestic cherries.
The cold chain has already set up dedicated solutions in the main cherry-producing areas, in order to better embody the word “fresh” in cold-chain logistics. We are now promoting and selling Yantai cherries that are “picked the same day and delivered the same day.” On the premise of ensuring supply, we will also comprehensively lower operating costs. Only in this way can high-quality domestic cherries appear before consumers at a more affordable price.
Do you like eating cherries? Are you delighted about the appearance of high-quality, low-priced domestic cherries?
