In early 2026, more than a month before Chinese New Year, Chilean cherries were already widely available in China at prices far below previous norms.
CHENGDu: For much of the past decade, Chile’s export of cherries to China ran on a narrow calendar.
From December to early the following year, the fruit ripened in Chile’s central valleys. Weeks later, just ahead of the Chinese New Year, those cherries arrived as a seasonal luxury, scarce, expensive and tightly bound to the holiday.
The logic was simple: southern-hemisphere harvests met northern hemisphere festivities, and value depended on timing as much as taste.
That logic is now weakening.
In early 2026, more than a month before Chinese New Year, Chilean cherries were already widely available in China at prices far below previous norms.
Boxes of JJ-level Chilean cherry weighing about 2.5kgs were selling for around 159 yuan in major supermarkets in Chengdu, with some promotional prices falling to 99 yuan, roughly 40% lower than a year earlier.
At local wholesale markets, prices fell even more sharply, with some high-grade cherries priced at nearly half of last year’s level. — Xinhua
