According to Yichang Citrus Sales Office, the early honey oranges were largely sold out as the average price of citrus rose. Ponkan (a kind of Chinese Honey Orange) and navel orange became the main fruits on the market. 2,279,000 tons of citrus have been sold by now, accounting for 73.7% of the expected total production of 3,902,500 tons.

　　According to the statistics, the average price of citrus bulk sales is 1.94 yuan/kg in this period, rising by 0.18 yuan/kg and an increase of 10% over the previous period. The four bestseller Zigui oranges (Changhong, Yuanhong, Luoqi, and Autumn Oragne from Quxiang)have an average price of 3.6 yuan/kg, 3.2yuan/kg, 2.1yuan/kg, and 4.2yuan/kg respectively. Since the opening ceremony of picking citrus on Nov. 26, the average bulk sales price of Qingjiang Ponkan has been at 2.4 yuan/kg with the highest price of 3.4 yuan/kg. The sales prices of the midseason honey orange ranged from 2.2 yuan/kg to 2.4 yuan/kg in Shenyang, Harbin and other places, among which the sales price reaches to 3.2 yuan/kg in supermarkets in Wuhan and Shanghai.

　　There is a big harvest and fantastic sales of citrus in Yiling District of Yichang - hometown of tea and orange. By early December, 612,000 tons citrus have been sold in the whole district, accounting for 87.2% of total production with an export volume of 700,000 tons and a significant rise in average price. In mid-November, Xiaoxihong Citrus Cooperative successfully held the promotion of “Citrus Prevails over the World” and signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Shanghai Agricultural Products Center Wholesale Market. This cooperative has established stable marketing networks now with over 20 agricultural products wholesale market, 50 big chain markets and 5 border trading ports, looking forward to a total sales of 100,000 tons.

　　According to Wen Zhonghua, the director of Yichang Institute of Citrus, the main kinds of exporting Citrus to Russia, Canada, the United States, the Middle East and the European Union are “Yichang mandarin orange” and “Zigui navel orange”. Every year in the whole city, there are about 150,000-200,000 tons of fresh citrus and canned citrus to be exported while both exporting sales and price of Yichang citrus show a rising trend owing to the improvement of the quality. (Reporter: Zhao Wei, correspondent: Jiang Yuemei)