Current wholesale prices of red, hard tomatoes in markets south of the Yangtze River such as Guangzhou, Xiamen and Changsha can hardly fetch much over 2 yuan/kg. Prices of hard, pink tomatoes are in general sold at around 1.4-1.8 yuan/kg. As there’s not much difference between farm gate prices and sales prices, some suppliers suffered losses to remain competitive in pricing, in order to maintain their market share.
As the total production of summer tomatoes is significantly higher than in the same period last year, some traders have suffered losses, resulting in frequent fluctuations in market volumes. When the market volume rises, prices drop and traders suffer from losses; when the market volume drops, prices go up and attract traders to again send tomatoes to the market, again suppressing the price.
Despite rises or falls, on the whole, prices remain within a lower range. The sales pressure is still high, and it is difficult to see noticeable improvement within a short time.
Some specialists expect prices in the second half of this year to repeat the pattern of that of 2017 and the first half-year of 2018. Prices in some production areas are expected to go up as supply declines from September.
Source: twgreatdaily.com