Risk of Individual Varieties of Vegetables or Current Prices in Some Areas

Tang Ke, Director of Market and Informatization Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Areas, revealed on July 17 that according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Areas'regulation, vegetable planting area increased by 1.4% in 2019. After the weather continued to improve, a large number of individual varieties were listed centrally in some areas, possibly resulting in a sharp drop in prices and the risk of unsalable sales.

The Press Office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs held a press conference on 17 th to inform the operation situation of the major agricultural products market in the first quarter of this year, to interpret the current hot issues in the agricultural products market, and to answer the questions of the reporters. At the meeting, some reporters asked, according to previous years, vegetable prices tend to rise sharply during the Spring Festival and fall sharply after the festival, but in March this year, vegetable prices remained high. What is the reason? Does that mean there will be a shortage of vegetables this year? According to previous years, vegetable prices tend to rise sharply before and during the Spring Festival, and fall sharply seasonally after the Spring Festival, generally between 3% and 18%, according to Tangke. In March this year, the vegetable price did not fall significantly, and it was at a high level in the same period of nearly 10 years. It was only next to the historical peak price in 2016, and the trend of seasonal decline slowed down obviously. According to the monitoring of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Areas, the average wholesale price of 28 kinds of vegetables in March was 4.84 yuan per kilogram, which was 0.4% lower than that of the previous three years, up 18% from that of the same period, and 7.3% higher than that of the same period in recent three years.

Tangke pointed out that the main reasons for the high vegetable prices were the continuous rainy and dry weather in the South since February, the overlapping rain and snow in the middle and late of the whole country and the cold in the late spring, and the various weather changes in the previous period, which led to the overall slowdown of vegetable production after the festival, the low yield, the adverse effects on vegetable harvesting and transportation, the poor variety and origin conversion, and the production of vegetable. Vegetables and outsourced vegetable supply are tightening at the same time. From the average price of vegetables in the first quarter, although 6.4% higher than the same period last year, it is only 0.6% higher than the same period in the past three years, which is still at a relatively reasonable level.

Tangke mentioned that in the latter period, it is worth noting that the enthusiasm of vegetable cultivation has generally increased due to the higher overall price level since last year. According to the regulation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Areas, the vegetable planting area increased by 1.4% in 2019. After the weather continues to improve, a large number of individual varieties are listed centrally in some areas, which may lead to a sharp drop in prices and the risk of unsalable sales.