Producing 70 per cent more navel oranges this year was an easy feat for Dongfang Modern Agriculture in Jiangxi province. High volumes across the country combined with a new plantation meant that the Chinese company are predicting an output of 33,000 tonnes this season, up on the previous year’s 19,500 tonnes.
The new 544-hectare plantation was acquired in July 2017, bringing their total number of plantations up to 21.
Covering these plantations are navel oranges, tangerines and pomelos, alongside camellia seeds which are intended for secondary markets in cooking oil.
The tangerine harvest is expected to be 147,000 tonnes, similar to 2016 and pomelos 47,000 tonnes down 8 per cent.
Prices for navels and pomelos are currently down 3 per cent and tangerines are also expected to fall back around 8 per cent after a price surge in 2016. Purchasers of tangerines are also moving toward cheaper unpackaged products, which has impacted the market price.
Hongwei Cai, executive chairman of Dongfang said that Chinese consumer demand for camellia products has continued to increase. This success coupled with new plantations has meant that despite a drop in price for citrus, the company is still showing strong growth.
“We continue to consolidate the camellia and navel orange plantations acquired in 2017, and have introduced improvements which will increase productivity and yields in future years. This will ultimately be reflected in further growth and increased value for our shareholders,” said Cai.
Preliminary full financial year results for the company will be released next month.
