The apple season in Luochuan, Shaanxi province finished last week, and the new crops have been put into storage. This area saw good weather conditions this year with plenty of sunshine and rainfall, so production is about 60% higher than last year. Sizes, color, and sweetness are all optimal.

“Among the apples that we purchased this year, the volume of those with moldy cores is not noticeable, only 1-2% of the total volume, similar to last year. The surge in production has led to a decline in prices. In general, apart from the high prices seen during the first ten days or so when the new crops became available, prices this season have been stable. The farmgate price stays at around 2 yuan/half a kilo, and the current out-of-storage price is about 3 yuan/half a kilo,” An apple dealer in the area said.

Due to high yield, local farmers are more willing to put high-quality products (large apples with high coloring and sweetness, and uniform sizes) in the storage and sell them after the fruit market recovers in a later period. Therefore, the volume of shipments in the region this year is small, and most of the fresh apples currently sold are lower-grade ones (apples with slightly smaller sizes, rougher peels and are less sweet).

Over recent years, as consumers' requirements for fruit quality become increasingly higher, major apple distributors in Luochuan have also improved the processes of each link, increased processes in growing, and used organic fertilizers as much as possible to ensure naturalness. In order to avoid sunburn and other physical damages, companies have optimized the bagging process and adopted environmentally friendly paper and waxed paper bags to protect the fruit from sunburn, “ the dealers said.