Tangerines grown in suburban Chongming District and the Pudong New Area will be sold at eight parks from Monday at wholesale prices to boost sales.

The succulent tangerines will be sold at Zhongshan, Yangpu, Changfeng, Luxun, Huangxing, Heping and Jinqiao parks, as well as Shanghai Botanical Garden. Sales will run between 6am and 11am through November 30.

The tangerines will be transported to the parks directly in the early morning, the day after they are picked.

The price will be set at 3.8 yuan (US$0.55) per kilogram, lower than the market price of the fruit, according to the Shanghai Forestry Station.

Rainy or bad weather will lead to suspension of sales with notice in advance, according to the station.

The city had 40 million square meters of land for tangerine planting as of the end of last year, of which the majority is in villages and towns in Chongming and along the Dazhi River in Pudong.

The city is expected to reap nearly 130,000 tons of the fruit this year.

Sales of Chongming tangerines were once sluggish due to lack of sale channels sinceChongming is far from downtown and had poor transport links before the Changjiang Tunnel-Bridge was built. The difficulties of getting fruit to market prompted city authorities to step in several years ago and set up free stalls for farmers in downtown parks.