Grower News

Gesundheit startet hier! That’s what the disinfection gel dispensers read on the IPM last week. This week the Chinese hall is pretty empty during the Fruit Logistica show in Berlin and all visitors have to fill in a declaration of health, saying that they haven’t been in China. The effects of the Corona outbreak in the industry though are more broad. Since the Chinese holidays were extended and many flights were canceled, projects will be delayed. Due to the Coronavirus the trade on the markets has been shut down as well: with no people to do the work in the greenhouses, no logistics and no trade on the markets, the market is silent. Right: filling in a health form is required to enter the Fruit Logistica. Chinese projects “As a direct result of the virus outbreak there will be some delays in projects”, says Jelmer Huizing with Codema . The company has been active in China for a couple of years and last year opened their Chinese office . “First cause for the delays is the Chinese holidays having been extended after the New Year break. We will have to see how this will continue. Also for us as a company, we will not send any supervisors to China for the month of February and will see later on about the later projects. This is due to the unclearness of the situation and due to the flights being cancelled.” He explains how this will affect the pace of projects being completed, but adds how this currently isn’t the biggest issue for the Chinese horticulture. Since public life has been shut down due to the governmental precautionary measures, greenhouse workers aren’t able to go to the greenhouse. Then there’s hardly any transport and due to the public life shutting down, this includes the flower & plants and fruit and vegetable markets, where the trade is silent. “Especially from the floricultural region Kunming we hear these stories”, he says. “Then there’s the production industry as a whole shutting down and dealing with delays. The Chinese government has already announced […]

Source: www.freshplaza.com