With the economic development in China, there have been many elevated strawberries in recent years in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, as well as some second-tier cities and provincial capitals, mainly for sightseeing and picking. In some strawberry-producing areas, there are also a small number of companies and cooperatives that cultivate elevated strawberries, such as Kunming in Yunnan, Licheng District in Jinan, Shandong, Qingdao, etc. Elevated strawberries will increase year by year in China in the future. Following the main strawberry cultivars in China, we also asked Mr. Huaibao Li, Vice Chairman of the Strawberry Branch of the Chinese Society of Horticultural Science, to share some of the market performance of strawberries.
Elevated strawberries are grown in a three-dimensional planting space, and their ventilation and light transmission conditions are better than traditional ground planting strawberries. The space utilization rate of elevated strawberries is much higher than that of traditional strawberries, which can effectively save labor and improve management efficiency. Combined with self-picking agricultural tourism, it will also bring considerable economic benefits to the farmers. However, it is worth noting that "The planting technology of elevated strawberry in China is still in a process of rapid learning and development, and the one-time investment cost of elevated cultivation facilities and equipment is high. It takes many years to get the investment back, which is difficult for small and medium-sized companies and cooperatives to invest in. There is still a certain gap in our current elevated strawberry production compared with Japan and Europe, and increasing the planting density is one of the solutions. However, with the increase in planting density, there will be higher requirements for the technical management level. Technical ability, management ability, and ability to control the market are the challenges that strawberry companies need to tackle at present."
"At present, the regional public brands of strawberries are more popular on the market, such as Liaoning Donggang strawberries, Anhui Changfeng strawberries, Dalian Zhuanghe strawberries, etc. However, the individual corporate brands are not prominent. Companies will take a long time to build their own brands, but more and more activities can be seen. The China Strawberry Brand Conference was held in Shanghai in March this year, and the World Strawberry Conference 2025 will also be held in China. With more events, the brand building will become more prominent."
"It can be seen that the current sales of strawberries are still dominated by bulk packaging, accounting for about 65% of sales, and supermarkets and fruit stores are the main channels of sales. However, with the further upgrading of e-commerce and logistics systems, the trend of online consumption is increasing. The beautifully packed strawberry gift boxes are very popular during the holidays. Chairman Li continued, "there has been a very mature management method for long-distance transportation by car, land, air, and other means. For example, the transportation distance is more than 3,000 kilometers from Liaoning Donggang to Guangzhou Shenzhen by land, and the goods can be transported generally within 36 hours. The fruits are transported by air to major cities such as Xinjiang and generally arrive in about 12 hours. Strawberries are put directly into plastic trays (the bottom of the tray is padded), and the plastic trays can be stacked as high as 16 stories, which can be transported over long distances by refrigerated or insulated trucks while ensuring the quality of strawberries. Some suppliers also choose to place strawberries directly in small cartons (sizes 12, 16, or 20). According to the size of the fruits, the cartons are put into a large foam box and then put into another large carton. Such packaging can be transported by air, and land, mainly used for long-distance transportation of strawberries in summer and autumn."
More information:
Strawberry Branch, Chinese Society of Horticultural Science
Contact: Huaibao Li
Email: [email protected]
Website: JLSCMXH.CN