Recently, the low price of vegetables has attracted widespread attention.
"I bought 50 catties of radishes to pickle dried radish, and it only cost 10 yuan. "I haven't seen cabbage for 0.19 yuan a pound for many years, and it's really 'cabbage price'." ”
According to the 21st Century Business Herald, the price of Xinfadi in Beijing shows that the average price of Chinese cabbage on December 1 was 0.33 yuan / catty, down 34% from the same period last year. Market analysts said it was the lowest point in the same period in nearly five years.
And in Shandong, a major vegetable province, the price of cabbage is even lower. "In our supermarket, cabbage sells for 2 cents a catty, and we go to the farmers in the field to buy it for 1 yuan a tree, and a cabbage can reach about 10 catties. Li Jun (pseudonym), who runs a number of supermarket chains in Weifang, Shandong Province, said.
Many residents lamented that the price of vegetables this winter is so cheap, and people can't help but wonder, why can't vegetables be sold at a high price?
Vegetable prices have dropped sharply
Since November, cabbage, radish, potatoes and other seasonal vegetables in the northern region have been put on the market in large quantities, and the joy of the harvest is still there, but the vegetable farmers in the fields have felt the "chill" first. According to the price monitoring of Beijing's Xinfadi market, the wholesale price of Chinese cabbage in November was as low as two cents per catty, and the highest was only four cents and a half, the price of potatoes fell by 30%, and the prices of cabbage and celery also fell to the lowest point in recent years. In the field, Chinese cabbage, radish and other vegetables are even more valuable, and they are only a few cents a catty, so that everyone has a clearer understanding of the "cabbage price".
The price of vegetables for sale in Xinfadi on November 27. Image source: Xinfadi official website
According to Chinanews.com, Shandong is one of the main vegetable producing areas in the country. Mr. Wang, who lives in Jiaozhou, Shandong Province and often goes to the supermarket, told reporters that this year's vegetables are much cheaper than last year, "like the recent Chinese cabbage 3 cents a pound, white radish 8 cents a pound, green radish 5 cents a pound, the price is relatively low."
Slightly more expensive than Mr. Wang's purchase, recently, the reporter visited a number of supermarkets and vegetable markets in Beijing, the price of Chinese cabbage is concentrated between 5 cents and 1 yuan, and the price of white radish is more than 1 yuan to 1.5 yuan.
According to a poster news report on December 6, the reporter came to a convenient supermarket in Licheng District, Jinan, and in the vegetable sales area, some citizens were buying Chinese cabbage. Compared with the price of vegetables on sale such as pepper 3.59 yuan/jin, cabbage 1.59 yuan/jin, rock sugar heart radish 3.99 yuan/jin, the price of cabbage 0.99 yuan/jin (member price 0.19 yuan/jin) is relatively low.
Subsequently, the reporter came to another supermarket and found that the price of cabbage was 0.39 yuan per catty. The supermarket sales staff told reporters that after November in previous years, the price of vegetables will gradually rise, but this year it is falling, "such as Chinese cabbage, four or five catties, less than two yuan 7."
In the Shandong Kuangshan Agricultural Products Comprehensive Trading Market, the prices of vegetables such as radish and tomatoes have fallen to varying degrees, especially Chinese cabbage, which has been at a low value in the same period in recent years. Statistics released by the market show that the average price of Chinese cabbage in the market was around 1.3 yuan/kg at the end of November, and has since begun to decline.
In November, the national average wholesale price of 28 kinds of vegetables monitored by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs was 4.58 yuan per kilogram, down 5.8 percent from the previous month and 5.2 percent lower than the average price of the same period in the past three years. In terms of varieties, 19 prices fell and 9 rose. Among them, the price of spinach fell by 26.6%, and the price of Chinese cabbage fell by 26.4%. Taking Chinese cabbage sold in the Beijing market as an example, in November, Chinese cabbage in Tangshan, Hebei, Jinzhou, Liaoning and Langfang, Hebei Province were listed in a centralized manner, and Beijing Chinese cabbage was traded 20,000 tons per day, and the wholesale price was as low as 0.55 yuan per kilogram, down 56% year-on-year.
According to Yangzhou Daily, the price of some vegetables has dropped sharply compared with the winter of previous years, attracting many citizens to stock up on vegetables or pickles, and some citizens have hoarded a lot of cabbage, radish, greens and other vegetables at home. "If you buy a little more while it's cheap, you can pickle it if you can't finish it, and you can save a lot of money on vegetables in winter." Ms. Wu, a citizen, said that she has been busy visiting vegetable markets and supermarkets recently, and she will buy more vegetables when they are cheap.
"The cabbage I have stockpiled these days is enough to eat for a winter, and now the price of vegetables is too cheap. In a supermarket in the urban area, Ms. Yang, a citizen who pushed a shopping cart of cabbage, told reporters that she had come to the supermarket three times, all to buy cabbage, a few days ago the price was 2 cents 8 pounds, and today the price was adjusted to 3 cents 8 pounds, mainly because there are more people buying, and she is worried that the price of hoarders will be raised.
In addition to the citizens who are busy hoarding, vegetable vendors have also been busy recently. Mr. Wang, a vegetable vendor, said that the wholesale price is definitely much cheaper than the market price, and recently some citizens have gone to the wholesale market by themselves, and they are dozens of catties or even hundreds of catties to buy back.
Why are the prices of vegetables falling in winter?
According to the Economic Daily, Zhang Jing, chief analyst of the vegetable market analysis and early warning team of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said that there are three main reasons: First, the overall weather in autumn is warm, the climatic conditions are suitable for the growth of vegetables, and the yield has increased significantly. Chinese cabbage, in particular, has an increase of about 20% per yield. Second, the planting area of vegetables has increased, and the foundation for stable production and supply is better. Last year, the price of Chinese cabbage, cabbage, white radish and other "road vegetables" was at a high level, and this year's planting willingness is stronger, and the cold vegetable production areas in the north and Shandong, Jiangsu and other places have expanded. At the beginning of November, the national vegetable field area increased by 1.2% year-on-year. The total supply of storable varieties in autumn is large, and the market supply increases, resulting in the price bottoming out. Third, due to the adverse weather in the early stage, the listing of some producing areas was postponed, and related varieties of open-field vegetables and cold shed vegetables were listed at the same time. The price of Chinese cabbage was once more than 30% lower than the same period in the past three years, the lowest point in the same period in recent years.
Will vegetable prices maintain a downward trend this winter? Experts said that the overall trend is expected to be stable.
In fact, vegetable prices have started to rebound recently. On December 8, the weighted average price of vegetables in Beijing's Xinfadi Agricultural Products Wholesale Market was 2.85 yuan/kg, up 1.42% from 2.81 yuan/kg on December 1 in the same period last week.
Liu Tong, manager of the statistics department of Beijing's Xinfadi agricultural products wholesale market, believes that the recent rebound in vegetable prices is related to the fact that merchants have stocked up in advance to cope with the upcoming cooling. Buyers increase the amount of purchases to the land, which has an obvious pulling effect on the price of the land. Judging from the varieties that changed this weekend, the main reason is that the price of fresh and tender vegetables has increased significantly, especially the eggplant vegetables produced in the northern greenhouse. However, although the prices of eggplant fruits and vegetables such as round eggplant, long eggplant, cucumber, tomato, and zucchini increased at the end of the week, the increase was not large, because the supply was abundant and the price rebound was insufficient.
Experts said that shelf-stable vegetables are the ballast stone for ensuring supply and price stability in winter. At present, the stock and supply of such vegetables in the country are sufficient, accounting for a large proportion of the vegetable supply, and the price fluctuation range is very small. Among them, the output of white radish, Chinese cabbage and cabbage in Hubei and Sichuan is relatively high, and they are facing certain sales pressure.
Li Huishang expects that after two large-scale cold waves, the market as a whole will quickly enter the supply stage of "southern vegetables and northern transportation", and the supply of vegetables in northern facilities will gradually increase. The rising production costs of cross-regional transportation and facilities have limited room for vegetable prices to fall, and vegetable prices are expected to gradually turn into a seasonal upward stage in the later period.
It should be avoided that "vegetables hurt farmers"
According to the Farmer's Daily, although the rise and fall of vegetable prices is a normal market phenomenon, the impact of the sharp drop in prices on farmers cannot be ignored at any time. According to media reports, in Shandong, Hebei, Inner Mongolia and other places, some vegetables are sold at low prices or even stranded in vegetable fields and no one picks them, and farmers have no choice but to turn vegetables directly into the field and return them to the fields. Vegetable cultivation is an important source of income for some people, and the impact of the loss of vegetables on them is self-evident.
According to Dazhong.com, a month ago, Li Fushan, a villager in Shanjia Village, sold some of his home-grown cabbage at a market price of 0.12 yuan per catty. "After growing cabbage for so many years, the price this year is really low. A month ago, the price was a little better than it is now. Li Fushan said that in the past few years, when the price of cabbage was relatively good, it could be sold for 0.6 yuan per catty, "this year the lowest is 0.08 yuan per catty."
"The purchase price of Chinese cabbage in our local area is 0.16 yuan per catty, which is half lower than last year, and we can't even get back the fertilizer money. Sister Liu, a vegetable grower in Fanjia Village, Tangwang Town, told reporters that generally speaking, the price of Chinese cabbage will be divided into large and small years, for example, the price was low last year, and the price should rise this year, but I didn't expect the price to be so low this year. "If you can't get back to the basics, if you can't sell it, you will 'slope' and use it directly in the ground as fertilizer."
According to the Farmer's Daily, although the current vegetable prices are at a low level, as the temperature continues to drop, the northern open-field vegetables are gradually withdrawn, and the market supply shifts to the south vegetables and northern facility vegetables, with the increase in planting and transportation costs, vegetable prices will gradually rise. The upcoming New Year's Day and Spring Festival will also further raise the demand for vegetable consumption and drive up vegetable prices. The "wind and grass" at the end of the sales will be quickly transmitted to all links of the production chain, mobilize all parties, especially farmers, to adjust the production of vegetables in a timely manner, and promote the return of vegetable prices to normal.
Sources: National Business Daily, China News Network, Farmer's Daily, Dazhong Network, Poster News, Economic Daily, Yangzhou Daily, etc