The price of hot peppers was depressed in the period before the Chinese Spring Festival [February 5th, 2019], but began to warm up after the festival ended. One trader from Beijing Xinfadi Wholesale Market explained that price of chilli peppers from Hainan was only 1.7 yuan [0.25 USD] per 0.5 kg before the festival, while the price of chili peppers from Shandong was 2.6 yuan [0.38 USD] per 0.5 kg. The price of Shandong peppers increased to 3.2 yuan [0.47 USD] after the festival. "However, the price only briefly increased and has been falling again in the last two days. The price of bell peppers from Fujian has already dropped from 90 yuan [13.29 USD] per box to only 70 yuan [10.33 USD]."
The trader further stated, "the price of peppers has never been this low in the last 5 years." The main reason for low prices this year is the high price of peppers last year around Spring Festival, which caused farmers to blindly expand the surface area devoted to pepper plantation.
Source: Beijing News