The vegetable prices are generally rising this year, with prices of popular vegetables such as cucumbers and tomatoes both 50% higher than before. Vegetables that didn’t do well last year are also doing quite well this year, especially garlic. Last year, its farm gate price was at only 1 yuan per kilo, and the wholesale price was as low as 2.4 yuan per kilo, while its prices this year remain high. Last year, onions were also struggling to sell, fortunately, their prices have improved with the expansion in export volumes. They have also been able to command good prices this year.
The ginger prices have been steadily increasing this year, especially in May, where its prices increased at a higher pace, fluctuating almost every day. In the past, the increase in ginger prices was jointly controlled by warehouse operators and merchants. However, this year's ginger market has presented a weird situation - the farmers have been generally reluctant to sell their ginger, forcing traders to raise purchase prices, but even this only attracted a small number of farmers.
The ginger prices have risen so much, in such a short time, that farmers’ reluctance alone cannot explain it. The main reason is that the stock of ginger in the market has been too small, and the market demand for ginger has been increasing. Affected by weather, a lot of the ginger that would have been available since October 2018 rotted away, resulting production to drop by about 40%. Moreover, as the quality of a lot ginger was not satisfactory, there was even less quality ginger on the market.
This year, the smaller ginger stock drove prices up in the entire market. Although this year's ginger has become available, the cold wave early this year once again led to a decrease in the production of ginger. Therefore, farmers have generally adopted a reluctant attitude towards selling the crop, and many choose to market their own products, and at small amounts. Therefore, it is difficult for traders to purchase large amounts of ginger from them.
Source: Today's Headlines