Southern China is experiencing an exceptionally mild winter. In mid-December 2019, the temperature rose to 20° C, breaking the historical record, and again in early January 2020. Due to the warmer weather since November, the supply of off-season vegetables in the south, as well as Shanghai and its surrounding areas, is very abundant. The supply window of certain vegetables has even been overlapping for an extended period of time. Demand for non-local vegetables from the south never really took off.
In the short run, the current wholesale price is slightly higher than in the same period last year. Early last year, overly abundant supply from the south resulted in slow sales. Facing lasting low prices, farmers relaxed their field management and pulled out a large number of seedlings, leading prices to rise sharply from the bottom during the first quarter. In addition, the year of 2019 saw frequent rainfall, the amount of rainy and cloudy days broke the historical record, which also contributed to the subsequent increase in vegetable prices.
This week, China saw the first large-scale snowfall in 2020. However, the snowfall mostly occurred in the northern regions, while the southern regions only experienced a fall in temperatures after their sharp rise, which has a limited impact on the production and supply of off-season vegetables. However, in the short-term, the increase in demand in the northern regions and the rise in prices in the production areas following the snowfall may lead wholesale prices to rise accordingly.
In general, vegetable supply is expected to be better than last year if no extreme climate occurs, and the overall price is expected to be slightly lower than the same period last year.
Source: Today's Headlines