Chinese Consumers Won’t Spend a Cent! Millions of Tons of Fruit Rot, Fruit Giant Loses $100M

China has had a bumper peach harvest this year, but growers say the surplus has driven prices so low that they can't even sell at cost. Entire truckloads are being dumped. One fruit grower posted a video saying prices have collapsed one after another this year, from tangerines, cherries, and waxberries to peaches, watermelons, apples, and blueberries. After a year of work, growers are losing money. He asked why farmers always seem to be the ones who suffer. A watermelon grower broke down in tears. What's going on? We harvest so many every day. This year's watermelons are big and excellent, but we still can't get a decent price. We're losing so much money. It's heartbreaking. When we took down the greenhouses, we knew the market was bad, but I didn't cry. Now, seeing what the watermelons are selling for, I'm devastated. A grapefruit wholesaler pointed to a pile of grapefruit, stacked almost to the ceiling. He had hoped to make money during China's October National Day holiday, but hardly anything sold. Business after the holiday was even worse. He described the situation as terrifying. I thought I'd bring a truckload of good peaches to sell at a decent price during the mid-autumn festival. I sat here all morning with minimal sales and sold only a few dozen yuan worth. This business is heartbreaking. Tell me, how can anyone keep doing this? People commented, everyone keeps their hands in their pockets and won't spend. Another wrote, We're all living as simply as possible and cutting expenses everywhere. A business owner added, Business has been incredibly difficult this year. China's fruit market has seen a striking contradiction this year. Farmers and wholesalers are losing money as large quantities of fruit rot in the fields. Yet prices at supermarkets and fruit shops remain high, and shoppers say they can barely afford fruit anymore. Sometimes I feel like I can't afford to live. Two apples cost 18.38 yuan. Just two apples, not two pounds. Do you know how many vegetables I could buy at the market for 18 yuan? And the worst part is, one apple was rotten. I bit into it and the inside looked wrong. It was hollow and tasted like chewing a water-soaked sponge. Unbelievable. One person commented, A lot of apples really are rotten. The main problem is high transportation costs. Just the fuel needed to transport a truckload can double the price of apples. Another wrote, Apple prices are ridiculous. I haven't bought apples at a supermarket in years. A few days ago, I bought a big piece of lean pork for 9 yuan. I thought I'd misheard, so I asked how much it was per pound. The seller even lowered the price to about 7 yuan per pound. Meat is the cheapest thing now. I don't understand why apples cost so much. Even the worst-looking ones are about 4 yuan a pound. Yantai apples are about 7 or 8 yuan a pound. And Fuji apples cost even more. Chinese fruit retail giant Shenzhen Pagoda Industrial Corporation, has suffered losses of roughly 700 million yuan, or 98 million U.S. dollars, over two years and closed more than 1,600 stores. The closures shook the fruit industry. A vlogger said companies like Pagoda Fruit Chain have used excessive marketing to turn ordinary fruit into luxury products. She said, What went wrong? Fruit shop prices are now so high that people can't afford them. We used to joke that apples and bananas were the only affordable fruits. Now a box of apples costs over 30 yuan, and one apple is 8 yuan. We used to cut a watermelon in half and eat it with a spoon, taking only the sweetest part. Now a watermelon, that once cost 5 yuan each, costs about 4.5 yuan a pound. Put that on the scale, and it's 65 yuan. One ordinary peach costs 23 yuan. Six oranges cost 124. And yellow cherries are the craziest. One tiny cherry costs 15 yuan. Yes, 15 yuan for a single cherry. The vlogger said she could spend 100 yuan in a fruit shop without feeling she'd bought much. Prices for so-called luxury fruits such as lychees, durians, and imported cherries have reportedly fallen by half this year, making them more affordable. Yet everyday fruits like oranges, apples, and watermelons have become unaffordable. Some say farmers have shifted to premium fruit, leaving fewer ordinary varieties and pushing prices higher. Others blame higher growing and transportation costs, but the vlogger argues that neither explains the underlying problem. Farmers cannot sell their produce, shoppers cannot afford it, and aggressive marketing has turned elaborate fruit grading into a major problem. People used to choose fruit based on two simple things, size and sweetness. Today, chains such as Pagoda Fruit Chain sort fruit into signature A, B, and C grades. A single apple can fall into as many as 18 categories. Electronic optical sorting lines check each piece of fruit for size, firmness, moisture, and sugar content, then assign a grade and a price. Marketing language is another big part of it. A decade ago, people simply bought lychees. Now retailers emphasize varieties and where they came from. Xianjingfeng lychees are promoted as the Hermes of lychees, while Guiwei, Nuomizi, and Baitangying varieties all get premium labels. One is soft, another is crisp and sweet, and another has a floral aroma. Every variety gets a special identity, encouraging shoppers to try them all. It's a strategy reminiscent of Louis Vuitton, Prada, and Chanel. Grading also determines where fruit ends up. Lower grades go into jam and juice. Middle grades are sold by independent vendors and neighborhood buying groups. Premium grades go to upscale supermarkets and specialty fruit shops. They may look beautiful and have impressive marketing. but the quality can just be average. The result, the vlogger says, is that cheap everyday fruit has disappeared from stores. Shoppers have little choice but to pay more. The vlogger said, Pagoda Fruit Chain's troubles reflect years of consumer frustration. People born in the 1980s and 90s grew up being told not to waste money, yet many still struggle financially. Three years ago, they hoped they could finally afford cherries. Now even ordinary fruit feels out of reach. She argued that retailers who package fruit as a luxury product are the ones who need to change. Pagoda Fruit Chain is a major fruit retail chain involved in sourcing, supporting growers, preserving produce, warehousing, transportation, grading, marketing, branding, and retail sales. It sells fresh fruit, dried fruit, juice, and other fruit products under the Pagoda Fruit Chain and Guo Duomei brands. The company was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in January 2023, but its performance plunged in its second year as a public company. Financial reports show revenue of about 10.27 billion yuan in 2024, with a net loss attributable to shareholders of roughly 386 million yuan. In 2025, revenue fell to 8.17 billion yuan, down about 20.4% year-over-year, while the net loss was roughly 317 million yuan. Combined losses over the two years reached approximately 703 million yuan, or about 98 million dollars. Pagoda Fruit Chain has long-faced complaints about its high prices. In August 2025, founder Yu Huiyong responded by saying, we won't cater to consumers, we're teaching consumers to become more mature. His comments quickly sparked controversy. As China's economy remains under pressure and shoppers focus more on value, Pagoda Fruit Chain's premium positioning faces a serious test. Its 2025 annual report showed membership fee revenue fell 53% from the previous year. To boost sales, Pagoda Fruit Chain introduced promotions and shut down less productive locations. From 2024 to 2025, its store count fell by a net 1,625 locations. Industry insiders say steep discounts, cost controls, and store closures may temporarily improve Pagoda's performance. But higher sales during promotions do not mean its core business has recovered. Its traditional fruit retail operations are still struggling to grow. On October 13, Chinese media outlet CityLink said Pagoda Fruit Chain was effectively sacrificing profit to boost sales. Its 2025 financial report showed a gross profit margin of about 7.3%. percent. For every 10 yuan in sales, the company made just 0.73 yuan in gross profits before rent, payroll, and spoilage costs. Continued discounts could squeeze profits even further. A report said ordinary consumers will spend their money whenever they can find fresh fruit at a reasonable price, whether that's a major chain or a small neighborhood shop. Analysts say losses have been widespread through the fruit industry this year. Many physical stores face weak sales and heavy spoilage, pushing prices beyond what working families can afford. That creates a vicious cycle. They see falling household incomes and consumers trading down as the main drivers. Whether people are buying fruit or other daily necessities, brands and packaging matter less than affordability. So many things are ridiculously expensive now that I don't even want to buy them. I remember floral water being really cheap. Now a bottle costs more than 10 yen, probably several times what it used to be then there's the seasoned duck snacks made from different parts of a duck boiled or braised with spices or smoked a tiny bag to eat at the movies costs dozens of yuan my uncle used to sell those snacks when i helped at his shop he said duck was meat for people who couldn't afford pork or beef he told me that if someone came in at lunchtime and could only afford tofu i should give them a duck carcass to take home and eat with rice Now, duck snacks cost more than pork or beef. The vlogger also complained about scorched rice bread costing anywhere from a dozen to 20 yuan. In his view, bread in a developing country shouldn't cost more than 10 yuan, especially when a serving of clay pot rice costs only 15. He was also shocked that a tiny scoop of ice cream could cost 19.9 yuan. To him, it felt like a rip-off. He said prices have soared for years, while wages have barely changed. When he graduated from a vocational college, his starting salary was 3,500 yuan. In 2026, employers are still offering 3,500 yuan to vocational college and even university graduates. But the jobs now demand far more. Workers once had clearly defined responsibilities. Today, employers expect one person to do everything for the same pay. He described how his younger brother applied for a job at a social media company after graduating. The employer wanted someone who could edit videos, write scripts, shoot footage, identify trending topics, and plan marketing campaigns. Beyond the economic slowdown and weaker consumer spending, questionable food processing practices have also damaged the fruit industry's reputation and changed shoppers' habits. A conversation between a vlogger and her friend revealed troubling practices in the fruit business. I've worked in the fruit business for six years, and I'm telling you, don't eat fruit. Don't eat fruit? Are you kidding? I love fruit. I could skip meals, but I would never give up fruit. I'm telling you, don't eat any fruit. Seeing her friend's surprise, the vlogger pointed to a grove of small, unripe jelly oranges. She said the fruit needed at least another month to ripen, yet people were already selling it on Pinduoduo and Taobao. She said many kinds of fruit reach the market early. That very morning, her aunt had called to ask whether she should sell unripe fruit to a buyer purchasing it in bulk. The fruit wasn't ready to eat, she said, but sellers had ways around that, including ripening agents and sweeteners. She also blamed a lack of consumer awareness. Many shoppers care only about whether the fruit is big and sweet without knowing when the different varieties are in season. They may not know when cherries or mangoes ripen. They simply order online and assume that everything for sale must be ripe. The vlogger admitted that after years in the business, she rarely eats fruit unless her family grows it. She loves fruit, but no longer feels confident about its safety. She said some sellers will do anything to make money, leaving consumers wondering what fruit they can trust. She added that honest sellers do exist, but they often struggle. In her own live stream business, she sells only seasonal fruit and waits until it's fully ripe. By then, sellers offering unripe fruit early have already captured shoppers' attention and much of the market. She can't charge enough to make up for it, and her business has deteriorated over the past two years. The vlogger laughed bitterly at the irony. Sellers who wait for fruit to ripen and try to do the right thing lose out, while those who rush unripe fruit to market make money. A person in Guangdong posted a humorous video, saying, I made 21,100 yuan in net profit from one customer today, my biggest profit ever from a retail sale. It started when a customer bought a discounted durian for 9.9 yuan and asked me to open it. I chose one with five sections, and the flesh was soft and golden, but after eating four sections, he complained that it was too sweet. He said he liked firmer, crunchier durian and demanded a refund. I told him I'd already opened it, and he'd already eaten it, so I couldn't refund him. Then he punched me twice and paid me 21,000 yuan in compensation. Add my day's wages and I made 21,100 yuan. I think this fruit business has great potential. If I could get a customer like that every day, I'd be rich. The video's comment section was full of laughter. One viewer said they had taken the story seriously until they saw a newspaper being used as an interview microphone. Although it was a comedy skit, commenters said it captured how bad the fruit market had become, with sellers left to comfort themselves through fantasy. The script concludes that companies like Pagoda Fruit Chain, which marketed ordinary fruit as luxury goods, were bound to face a consumer backlash as the economy slowed.