Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao underlined the importance of expanding domestic sales and stabilising export demand to the country’s apple industry during a recent visit to Huasheng Fruit Company.
The Premier conducted a tour of the company’s facilities in Xi’ian in China’s northwest province of Shaanxi on 16 July, inspecting the CA storage and packhouse operations.
“Premier Wen Jiabao asked us for details about the apple export volumes and pricing, and whether there have been any changes compared with last season,” said Huasheng’s regional manager Kathy Han. “He also inspected our apple quality control process and asked the growers who have trained with our company about their incomes and the production situation.”
Mr Wen said that while the global economy is on the rebound, the pace of that recovery is slow and tinged with uncertainty. As such, he stressed the importance of developing domestic demand and stabilising overseas markets for the apple industry.
“I am looking at the apples here in the packhouse and at the same time I am considering economic trends in China and overseas,” Mr Wen told Huasheng’s staff. “Small apples could face big problems. Apple sales are dependent on the consumer market, and you can’t have a stable consumer market without a stable economy.”
