2021 China Pitaya Industry Quick Report

ONE、Pitaya related concepts

1，Introduction

Pitaya is a cactus family, the amount of days to measure the amount of days of cultivated varieties, climbing fleshy shrubs, with air roots. Branches numerous, extending, leaf blade ribbed often winged, margin undulate or crenate, dark green to pale bluish green, bony;  Flowers funnel-shaped, open at night;  Scales ovate lanceolate to lanceolate, calyx teal segments yellowish green, linear to linear lanceolate, petal teal segments white, oblong oblanceolate, filaments yellowish white, styles yellowish white, berries red, globose, hilum small, flesh white and red.  Seeds obovate, black, hilum small.  Flowering and fruiting from July to December.  

2，Growth environment

Pitaya is a tropical and subtropical fruit. It grows rapidly in a warm, humid and well-lit environment. It should be watered more during open field cultivation in spring and summer to keep its root system in a vigorous growth state. In rainy and rainy weather, it should be drained in time to avoid infection of bacteria and cause rot of stems. Its stems can also grow on rocks, and the plants are extremely wind-resistant, as long as the support is firm, it can resist typhoons

Pitaya is resistant to low temperature of 0 °C and high temperature of 40 °C, and the optimum temperature for growth is 25-35 °C. Pitaya can adapt to a variety of soils, but neutral soils and weakly acidic soils that contain more humus and retain water and fertilizer are better.

3、Variety classification

TWO、General situation of Pitaya cultivation in China

Pitaya is an important tropical fruit emerging in recent years, with high economic value, nutritional value and processing and utilization value. According to the existing data, from 2010 to 2020, the proportion of Pitaya production in my country's total tropical fruit production has increased from 0.25% to 5%, with a rapid growth rate. According to data released by the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China, as of December 2020, the area of Pitaya in China is about 35,555 hectares, which is comparable to the area of dragon fruit in Vietnam.

As the Chinese people's love for Pitaya continues to deepen, it is expected that by 2021, the planting area of  Pitaya  in China will reach more than 40,000 hectares. In China, the cultivation of Pitaya is mainly distributed in Guangxi, Guangdong, Guizhou, Yunnan, Hainan, Fujian and other provinces (regions), of which Guangxi and Guangdong are the two main producing areas with the largest planting area, accounting for about the national Pitaya planting area. 60%.

THREE、General situation of Pitaya consumption in China

Pitaya consumption was initially concentrated in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, and southern provinces (regions) such as Hong Kong and Macau. In recent years, due to the continuous development of the domestic Pitaya market, various parts of southern China have also begun to plant them. In addition to Guangdong Province, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Yunnan, Fujian and other places have large-scale planting. In recent years, due to the continuous expansion of the market, the demand for Pitaya in the four provinces of North, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hunan, Zhejiang, Chongqing, and Northeast China has also increased. From 2014 to 2020, the consumption of Pitaya in China showed a rapid growth trend. It is expected that the consumption of Pitaya in China will reach 2.0754 million tons in 2021.

In addition to domestic consumption, the Pitaya grown in China is also exported to Malaysia, Russia, Thailand and other countries. Especially in recent years, the effect of Pitaya in beauty, health care, weight loss and other fields has been gradually explored, and it has gradually become a city dweller. A tropical fruit with high acceptance, the market awareness has been significantly improved.

Chart 1: China's dragon fruit consumption and forecast from 2014 to 2021

FOUR、Overview of China's Pitaya Imports

Before 2015, the planting area of pitaya in the domestic market was relatively low, and the pitaya sold in the market was mainly imported.  China imported 813,500 tons of pitaya in 2015, accounting for more than 60% of the domestic market consumption, and it is expected to import 655,900 tons of pitaya in 2021.  In all import countries, Vietnam is the most important source of imports, China's imports of dragon fruit from Vietnam accounted for more than 98% of the total imports.

Chart 3: Import volume and forecast of fresh pitaya in China from 2015 to 2020