ISHS Acta Horticulturae 810: IX International Vaccinium Symposium
THE CURRENT STATUS AND FUTURE OF THE BLUEBERRY INDUSTRY IN CHINA |
| Authors: | Yadong Li, Yu Hong |
| Keywords: | Blueberry, production area, production yield |
| Abstract:
In the past 7 years, the area planted to blueberries in China increased from 24 ha to 1,323 ha and is expected to increase to 17,200 ha by 2010. The average annual rate of increase was 70% for the years 2001 to 2005 and 161% for the years 2005 to 2010, respectively. So far, more than 10 provinces have begun commercial blueberry culture, ranging across China from the Northeast to the Southwest. However, different blueberry cultivars were chosen for different production areas based on climate. Lowbush blueberry and half-high blueberry, about 20% and 15% of the total area respectively, are mainly grown in the Northeast. Northern highbush, about 37% of the total production area, is mainly cultured along the coastal areas of Liaoning and Shandong provinces, the northern part of Jiangsu, and part of Yunan province. Occupying 28% of the total production area, rabbiteye and southern highbush are mainly grown in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guizhou, and part of Yunan provinces. Greenhouse and tunnel production areas in northern China increased from 0.13 to 30 ha from 2001 to 2007 and are expected to increase to 750 ha by 2010. With the use of greenhouses and high tunnels, fresh fruit could be harvested from early April to early June. Total production of blueberry in China increased from 2 to 340 metric tonnes between 2001 and 2007 and it is estimated to reach about 12,300 tonnes by 2010. More than 2/3rd of the fruit is used fresh and more than 80% is exported to Japan or Hong Kong, China. Less than 1/3 of the fruit was processed for IQF and export to other countries. Harvest of wild Vaccinium, V. uliginosum and V. vitis-idaea, increased from 400 to 7000 tonnes for V. uliginosum and from 1,200 to 4,000 tonnes for V. vitis-idaea, respectively from 2003 to 2007 in the Northeast. This fruit is processed IQF and is exported mainly to Europe. Major problems and other markets for blueberry production in China are also presented in this paper. | |
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