Fruit prices in the Ecuadorian market have reportedly seen sharp rises over the last week as a result of the country’s
recently imposed import tariff hikes.
Website Lahora.com.ec reported apples, table grapes, oranges, guavas and peaches had all been particularly affected, with the price of a box of 150 apples having risen from US$20 at the start of the year to US$30 now.
The price rises are said to be hitting fruit sellers in wholesale markets hard as sales have been limited.
“Normally, people prefer to eat Chilean apples, pears and grapes because they’re more juicy and have a better texture, and if they stop shipping them we don’t know if the apples from here will be able to meet the supply,” apple seller Patricio Urtea was quoted as saying.
Chilean apples are said to be one of the most popular fruits in the country, not just in wholesale markets but supermarkets as well.
“Lots of people have come to ask if we still have Chilean apples and if they’re still of good quality,” Urtea was quoted as saying.
“We are really worried that imports from other countries might stop, because then we would have to look for other distributors that might not even exist in this country.”
A wholesale market shopper, Miriam Tapia, reportedly said she didn’t know if the sellers were exaggerating their prices
prematurely, but claimed that she could before buy more apples and pears for a lower price.
The plants may be too tall (5 to 10 feet) for some small gardens. But a sweet corn such as ‘Kandy Korn’, ‘Sweet Symphony’, and ‘Silver Queen’ is worth growing in a sunny plot―you’ll never find a sweeter corn in markets.
Good enough to eat right off the plant when picked at peak ripeness. Sunset zones 1B, 2B-24, H1, H2.
Once standard sweet corn is picked its sugar changes to starch quickly. By rushing ears from the garden to boiling water, you can capture their full sweetness.
The average export unit price of dragon fruit in the first four months of 2013 gained USD 707.41 per ton, increasing by 26 percent compared to USD 561.28 per ton of the same period last year. However, there was a fall of unit price for dragon fruit exported to Thailand (equivalent to 61.19 percent of the price in corresponding period of 2012). In comparison with the same period of 2012, dragon fruit export had a decrease of 31.13 percent in quantity and 13.18 percent in value. Of which, dragon fruit export volume to China reduced by 37percent in quantity and 21 percent in value; dragon fruit export to Indonesia droped 35.8 percent in quantity but raised by 2,4 percent in value; dragon fruit entering Thai markets surged 3.5 times in quantity and 2.2 times in value; dragon fruit export to Singapore had a decrease of 48.6 percent in quantity and a slight drop of 1 percent in value; dragon fruit export to UAE witnessed a slight fall of 19.3 percent in quantity and a huge increase of 62.3 percent in value.
A source of news reveals that, Chinese government is deploying a new policy to encourage and support its farmers in cultivating dragon fruit trees in large area in Guangdong and Guangxi provinces. It is forecasted that in the following years, dragon fruit yield in China will meet domestic demands and possibly export to other countries. Besides some Asian countries and territories such as: China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, dragon fruit tree is being developed in the US.