When the weather is cold, the prices of vegetables consistently rise, however, monitors of the prices in Beijing's Xinfadi market have found that recently the price of tomatoes has dropped instead. The latest statistics show that the wholesale price of tomatoes ranges between 0.7 and 1.5 yuan [0.11 and 0.23 USD] per 0.5kg. Originally in winter the price of tomatoes showed a rising trend. This year, however, the price dropped. Even in comparison with the autumn price it is still low. According to our understanding, the reason for this trend is that at present the tomatoes from numerous production areas in the north enter the market together with tomatoes from greenhouses.
At present, the tomatoes that enter the market do not have a principal production area. Liaoning, Inner Mongolia, Hebei, and Shandong all have tomato production. After the batches of tomatoes are transported to the market, they cannot be sold. Among merchants there is a fierce competition that forces the price down.
According to merchants of Xinfadi market, in the same period last year the price of tomatoes was still relatively high. This year there was a widespread expansion of growing tomatoes. Last winter and this spring a group of merchants from Xinfadi market traveled to Hainan and Yunnan to grow tomatoes, and solve the lack of tomatoes in Beijing's winter and spring. This year, they are still there to grow tomatoes. However, it is not easy for their tomatoes to enter the capital. This is because the price of tomatoes already in the Beijing market will probably stay low, and these tomatoes spend a relatively longer time in transport.
Source: Beijing Evening News