China: Garlic price keeps falling

Ever since March this year, the price of garlic has been going down continuously. The situation has become so bad that garlic farmers are having to spend money to hire extra labour to tear out their garlic shoots and give them to people for free. Some garlic farmers just dump their crops in the rivers and on the fields. In the garlic production regions like those of Jin village in Shandong province and Pizhou county in Jiangsu province, the garlic production surface was expanded and the produced quantities also increased significantly. As a result the price of garlic on the market has been dropping a lot earlier than predicted. Ever since the Yunnan garlic entered the market this year, the garlic price has been racing downhill. After the 'Garlic Frenzy' of a few years ago, this year is the scene of a 'Garlic disaster'. Over the longer term, the price of the garlic appears to be like the track of a rollercoaster. For garlic farmers, intermediary markets, garlic stock dealers, wholesale markets and many others, the behaviour of the garlic price is so sudden that it can't be anticipated. 

The business transactions for garlic in Jin village have only just started. The peak of transactions occurs around mid June. But judging from the price evolution of garlic shoots, the price for garlic won't be very high this year and can't be compared to the past few years. This year, there have been no natural disasters and the production output has increased. At the same time, the garlic price last year was quite high. This resulted in garlic farmers actively increasing their garlic cultivation surface and seed stock. The production volume has gone up at least 30% compared to last year. As such, the garlic price will drop to a deep low compared to last year.

Source: www.ce.cn