EastFruit analysts draw attention to the erroneous statements that China became one of the top 3 importers of Uzbek fruit and vegetables in January 2021. Moreover, the experts claim that the exports of Uzbek fruit and vegetables to China fell sharply in January 2021!
Apparently, the Uzbek officials decided not to go into detail, and included HS groups 07 and 08 in the “fruit and vegetables”, which is fundamentally wrong. This category includes dried legumes that, in market analysis, are classified under the category “grains and pulses”. This is due to the specifics of their cultivation, storage and trade.
Unlike fruit and vegetable products, these crops, represented in Uzbekistan mainly by mung bean, are grown on large areas, their production can be completely mechanized, they do not belong to perishable products and are stored for a long time without the need of cold storage. They are transported in bulk, and as a rule, are traded by same traders who trade in grains. So, under all aspects of production, storage, logistics, and marketing these crops are fundamentally different from fruit and vegetables.
It turns out that it is mung beans and other dry legumes that are the main categories of Uzbekistan’s exports to China. Moreover, exports in this category have indeed increased but it has nothing to do with vegetables and fruit.
And what about the supplies of Uzbek vegetables and fruits to China in January 2021? The situation is not all roses. First of all, Uzbekistan did not export any vegetables to China, in other words, vegetable shipments were zero in January. Secondly, Uzbekistan did not export fresh fruits to China either. Thirdly, the export of Uzbek dried fruits, the only category that was exported to China under the fruit and vegetables in January 2021, fell sharply compared to the same month in 2020 and was even much lower than in January 2019. So, we have a clear downward trend in exports of fruit and vegetable products from China in January 2021 instead of the announced increase in supplies!
In January 2021, Uzbekistan exported 320 tons of raisins to China, compared to 1145 tons in January 2020 and 3659 tons in January 2019. It turns out that just in two years, the supply of this category of goods fell 11 times! Uzbekistan exported 40 tons of dried apricot in January 2021 against 102 tons a year earlier. And here again the fall is more than twofold.
Revenues from exports to China are also modest – Uzbek exporters received $ 210,000 for raisins, and $ 35,000 for dried apricots. But for mung beans and legumes, in fact, about $ 12 million were received, according to Chinese statistics, which is close to the indicators of the State Statistics Committee of Uzbekistan, although less.
Thus, there is a downward trend in the exports of vegetables and fruits to China. By the way, China has already published trade data for February 2021, and there are still no imports of fresh fruit and vegetables from Uzbekistan at all. And there are still less Uzbek dried fruits imported to China than in January-February 2020.
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