China strawberry production set to drop

China's production of both fresh and frozen strawberries is expected to fall in 2006. China's fresh strawberries production is forecast to decrease 30 percent to 646,000 metric tons in 2006 due to the decreased planted area. Frozen strawberries production is forecast to decrease 10 percent to 82,500 metric tons because of the Europe Union's safeguard investigation and the rising price of fresh strawberries. Frozen strawberries imports in 2006 are forecast to increase 20 percent because of decreased local production and the resultant higher fruit price.