The high infectivity of the COVID-19 virus and its spread in various regions of the world, especially the epidemic situation in the United States and Europe, has become increasingly serious, and it will inevitably have a dramatic impact on global economic activities.
Among them, the fresh fruit and vegetable industry has also been seriously affected. These effects are all-round and the entire industry chain, from the production end to the transportation end to the consumption end, almost inevitably have a dramatic impact.
Production impact
Because of the rapid spread of the epidemic, many countries have indeed issued quarantine orders. Factory shutdowns and labor shortages directly lead to fruits and vegetables that cannot be effectively organized and packaged and produced.
Because agricultural products have timeliness and freshness requirements. Therefore, if the time is right, the agricultural products cannot be picked, processed and processed in a timely manner, which will cause the agricultural products to expire and rot. This is currently the agricultural products of the season were particularly obvious. Fortunately, fruits like Fuji Apple were processed and collected in the cold storage in the second half of last year, avoiding problems at the production end.
Fortunately, agricultural products are a necessity of life. In particular, fruits and vegetables are one of the basic elements that provide people with nutrition and health. Governments of all countries have made great efforts to help industries through this difficult period.
Impact on the transport side
With the development of the epidemic and the promulgation of the isolation order, agricultural products have a great impact in the transportation section:
- Even products that have been processed cannot be transported from one area to another;
- Isolation orders and work stoppage orders have caused a shortage of workers and drivers involved in transportation;
- With the reduction of production capacity and the reduction of demand on the consumption side, many transportation companies and shipping companies have reduced the corresponding transportation shifts, further causing the urgency of transportation capacity;
- Because epidemic prevention materials are placed in the first priority of transportation, this also leads to further squeezing of the transportation capacity of agricultural products and other materials.
Because of the huge impact and destruction of COVID-19 on the transportation side, it must also have a huge adverse impact on cross-regional trade, requiring the concerted efforts of the people of the world.
Consumer influence
Because of COVID-19’s restraining orders and isolation orders, bars and restaurants have closed or even closed; therefore, they have a great impact on the consumer side. Basic staple foods or canned foods that are resistant to storage have become popular again; while agricultural products or other foods in secondary locations have given way to these main foods.
But there are some other signs. For example, fruits rich in vitamin C are popular with consumers because of their immunity-enhancing effects; garlic and ginger are sought after for their potential inhibitory effects on viruses.
China’s industry is recovering
Since the outbreak of the new crown epidemic in China in late January, China has implemented isolation and shutdown measures, and by February, almost no factories in China have resumed production.
Fortunately, after experiencing strong measures in January and February, the epidemic in China ushered in an inflection point in March. At present, most parts of mainland China have returned to normal order. In addition to calling on everyone to maintain social distance and the catering industry has not yet fully recovered, the rate of factory resumption in China has reached 80% -90%.
The production sequence of the most important fruit and vegetable production bases in China, such as Shandong, has basically been restored; logistics transportation has gradually returned to normal as the isolation order is lifted. It is foreseeable that the Chinese market will gradually recover, and its production and logistics are also recovering.
Conclusion & outlook
The following industry trends will depend on the progress of global anti-epidemic and require global sincere solidarity and cooperation.
