Farmers in Dalian turn to media to sell apples

Apple growers are turning to media outlets to help them sell the fruit in Dalian, Liaoning province, after record yields were seen in the region this year.

Local media and micro-blogging websites are acting as intermediaries between apple growers and potential buyers.

On Nov 20, local newspaper Dalian Evening News reported that college student Yu Dan asked for a leave from school to go back home in Dalian's Lushunkou district and help her father sell apples.

After reading the story, many citizens and companies offered to help. Within two days, more than 10,000 kilograms of apples had been sold.

Before that, the story of a mother and her 4-year-old daughter from Wafangdian in Dalian had also been reported and forwarded widely through Sina Weibo, China's largest micro- blogging platform. Their story was reposted more than 70,000 times, and the apples were sold quickly.

A company in South China's Guangdong province bought 8,000 kg of apples from the family. And later, the same company bought 50,000 kg of apples from other farmers in Wafangdian.

There are no detailed figures about how many kilograms of apples are unsold in the region. But only in Xiaofang village, in Wafangdian's Xutun town, more than 1,000 apple growers are still storing at least three million kilograms of the fruit.

Meanwhile, apples from some other main producing regions, including Shandong, Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Hebei, are also seeing lackluster sales.

In October, the China Fruit Marketing Association warned that the apple market would face significant sales pressure this year due to the high yields.

It forecasted that about 38 million tons of apples will be produced this year, up 5 percent year-on-year.

Other factors are also hampering sales. Exports were down 50,000 tons in the first eight months, down 8 percent year-on-year. And the production of apple juice has been slowing down because of the high prices of the fruit in the last three years.