The period in which new dried garlic enters storage was only brief this year, the speed was high, and trade was concentrated between mid-July and early August. Trade in new dried garlic was over in most garlic areas by the end of August. Traders also paid closer attention to product quality. Preliminary data shows that the nationwide volume of garlic in storage has currently reached 3.8-3.9 million tons, which is an increase of 25.81% in comparison with the same period in the previous year.
The nationwide volume of garlic in storage first exceeded 3 million tons in 2008. Storage volume and export volume have both continued to increase since then. However, from 2015 onward, the export volume of fresh garlic and cold-storage garlic remained below 1.8 million tons. The export volume even decreased after Chinese garlic prices suddenly increased in 2016. There was an obvious further decrease in the garlic export volume in June-August of this year in comparison with the same period in the previous year. Garlic processing businesses exported 30%-50% less garlic in June of 2018 than they did in the same period in the previous year; however, the export volume increased slightly in July and August in comparison with June, though not in comparison with the same period in the previous year.
Garlic traders are both hopeful and worried. On the one hand, there is still a profit margin for some garlic supplies, for example the pure garlic from Pingzhou and the four clove garlic from Cangshan; on the other hand, there is a lot of pressure on the sales of stored garlic, and it is difficult to estimate if the risks outweigh the rewards.
Source: Shanxi News Onlin