Fresh fruit exports from mainland Southeast Asian countries to China: background context and key questions for research and policy

Abstract

Mainland Southeast Asia is becoming a more important source location for China’s increasing appetite for fresh fruits. This is leading to significant transformations in key sites for fresh fruit production. This chapter sets out the background contexts for this issue and proposes a framework to understand these transformations. It argues that the value chains that are evolving to service this trade present distinctive differences from those that have evolved to provide fresh fruit exports in markets of the global North, because of unique characteristics in the Chinese market. These differences are manifested in (1) highly selective geographical incorporation of mainland Southeast Asian fresh fruit industries into the orbit of Chinese demand because of the complex bilateral trade rules and institutional arrangements for trade, and (2) greater pluralism in chain governance with, in particular, power and control being exercised more prominently by mid-chain actors including Chinese traders and brokers.