Development status and suggestions on Chinese kiwifruit industry

Abstract：Kiwifruit is an old plant and a newly developing fruit species. Because of its rich vitamin C content and unique taste, kiwifruit is now more and more popular with the consumers, and has become one of the main 26 kinds of fruit crops of the world’s largest consumption. China ranks first in the world both in the cultivated area and the production of kiwifruit. So, it plays a very important role in the world's kiwifruit industry. The purpose of this article was to sum up the present situation of kiwifruit industry through the statistical analysis and industry investigation of the production and trade data at home and abroad, to sort out the main problems existing in the kiwifruit industry in China, and to find out the causes, so as to develop some countermeasures for promoting sustainable development of the kiwifruit industry in China. The data in this article were from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) statistics database, the United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database (UN Comtrade) and the Agriculture, Rural and Crop Management Division database, and the latest data dated from May 2019. The data of national and international kiwifruit production and trade were analyzed. The results provided us some information to find out the main problems existing in the development of kiwifruit industry in China and to give suggestions to develop healthy kiwifruit industry in China. It was found that: (1) From 1999 to 2017, the cultivated area and production of kiwifruit in the world increased steadily, and the growth in Asia was most obvious. During these years, the area of 2017 was 4.6 times as large as in 1999, and the production in 2017 was 3.3 times more than the production in 1999. The top ten countries accounted for 98.29% of the total kiwifruit cultivated area in the world. Similarly, 98.46% of the world's total production came from the top 10 countries. From 2000 to 2017, the cultivated area of kiwifruit in China increased by 2.37 times, and the production in 2017 was 1.38 times more than the production in 2000. In 2017, China's cultivated area and production of kiwifruit accounted for66.89% and 50.13% of the world, respectively, but kiwifruit yield in China just ranked around 20th in the world. The sum of cultivated areas and productions in Shaanxi, Sichuan, Guizhou, Hunan and Henan provinces accounted for 77.2% and 90.3% of the total of China, respectively. Despite the rapid development of kiwifruit industry, the proportion of its production to total fruit industry was still very small. (2) According to the data of 2006—2016, 16 countries and regions exported more than 5 000 tons a year, of which the top five were New Zealand, Italy, Chile, Belgium and Greece. The average export volume and trade value of the five countries accounted for 84.26% and 87.05% of the world average respectively, in the last five years. From 2006 to 2016, there were nearly 30 countries and regions with annual imports of kiwifruit above 5000 tons. According to the 2006—2016 ranking, the top three of the 30 countries were Belgium, Germany and China, and the growth rate of China’s import volume and import value was the most obvious in the top three. In China, the import and export trade deficit of kiwifruit was obvious, and the import unit price was always higher than the export unit price. In 2017, China’s kiwifruit exports accounted for only 0.21% of total domestic production. China’s imports of kiwifruit mainly came from New Zealand, Chile and Italy. The imports from these three countries accounted for 97.20% of the total import volume and 98.24% of the total import value. Among them, New Zealand accounted for the largest proportion of imports. (3) The above analysis showed that the kiwifruit industry in China developed rapidly and had great potential for development. However, in comparison to some countries like New Zealand, the kiwifruit industry in China had the problems of late start, low unit yield, poor quality, low export ratio, etc. The reasons for these mainly included the following aspects: the dominant variety in each region was not clear to cultivators, the male pollinated varieties and good rootstock varieties were insufficient, breeding and seedling technology system were backward, the cultivation management technology system was lagged behind, the flower and fruit management was over-dependent on the plant growth regulators, the lack of systematic research on the diseases and insect pests, low storage and processing ability, imperfect quality standard system, etc. (4) The strategies and suggestions on promoting the sustainable development of kiwifruit industry in China were proposed in the following: redrawing the industrial layout and improving the role of demonstration; cultivating some operators with strong driving power and strengthening the internal sources of growth; strengthening scientific and technological support to enhance the core strength; building regional brands and brand ecology; promoting the integration of primary, secondary and tertiary industries, and accelerating the development of agriculture, rural areas and rural residents.