On November 16th, the reporter learned from that Municipal Agriculture Bureau that the accumulated sales volume of citruses in Yichang has reached 1.5491 million tons, accounting for 52.8 percent of the estimated total output－2.9331 million tons. Sales in the same period last year were just 47.9 percent of the total.

　　It is learned that the citruses currently sold at the market are mainly early-ripe and medium-ripe mandarin oranges, early-ripe navel oranges, new hall navel oranges, and ponkan. Those citruses are sold at an average price of 2.39 yuan per kg, increasing by 43 percent when compared with the price of 1.67 yuan per kg in the same period last year. Among them, Zhijiang, Yidu, Yiling District and Dangyang rose by 2.10 yuan per kg, 0.70 yuan per kg, 0.72 yuan per kg and 0.60 yuan per kg respectively, realizing a year-on-year increase of 111 percent, 47 percent, 46 percent and 43 percent respectively.

　　Wen Zhonghua, the director of the Municipal Citrus Research Institute, said that the price of Yichang mandarin orange reached a record high, a big increase when compared with last year. He mainly attributed it to the comprehensive implementation of green control in our city to ensure the quality of citrus, the appropriate adjustment on species to achieve the off-peak sales, big increase in the sales and prices of exports，as well as effective marketing strategy and promotion policies, to name but a few. Now the main citrus varieties on sale are Yichang mandarin oranges, which will be followed by navel oranges. The Municipal Citrus Research Institute predicts that the price of citrus sales will remain high and even rise slightly in the later stage. (Reporter Jie Xingwei; correspondent: Fang Suzhen)