The price of Chinese garlic in one of the major production areas, Jinxiang in Shandong, showed a slight increase in the beginning of this year. Analyst Cui Xiaona states that the average price increase was between 0.1 and 0.2 yuan [0.01-0.03 USD] and the room for further increase is small. In comparison with last year, however, the price of garlic dropped. Data shows that the amount of garlic planted in autumn of 2018 was 25% less than the same period in 2017. This means that under regular weather conditions the production volume of garlic in 2019 will be smaller than in 2018.
The changes in 2019 will not be as large as one would expect. The structure of garlic plantation is not easily changed and many farmers will continue to grow garlic despite financial loss in 2018. The overall surface area devoted to garlic plantation is still large and the price will not show a great divergence from the price in 2018.
Source: cnr.cn