Shenyang vegetable prices enter the Spring Festival season: half of all vegetables rise in price
[Introduction·China Vegetable Network]Chinese cabbage 1.5 yuan/jin, potatoes 1.8 yuan/jin, green peppers and kidney beans 5—6 yuan/jin, spinach and rapeseed 4 yuan/jin, and garlic shoots even higher, at 7.5 yuan per jin. Ms. Liu, who had not visited the vegetable market for a week, took a stroll around the farmers' market hall near Yunfeng Street in Tiexi and was startled by the high vegetable prices.
As the Spring Festival approaches, vegetable prices are gradually entering the “Spring Festival season.” On January 14, reporters learned from the price monitoring department that the Shenyang market has already ushered in the pre-Spring Festival sales peak, with more and more consumers coming to buy New Year goods, and current vegetable prices have approached the price levels of the same period before last year's Spring Festival. Judging from market conditions, vegetable and fresh fruit prices have risen somewhat, pork prices have stopped falling and rebounded, while beef and mutton prices have been stable with a slight decline.
Fifty percent of vegetable prices “break seven”
At the Dadong Grocery Supermarket, almost all vegetables have gone up in price. “A few days ago cucumbers were 3.5 yuan/jin, now they have risen to 4.5 yuan/jin.” Regarding the recent rise in vegetable prices, Aunt Li, who is over 50, has felt it firsthand: a few days ago she spent 7.8 yuan on one Chinese cabbage, but yesterday a Chinese cabbage of the same weight sold for 12.4 yuan.
According to monitoring data from the price department, compared with after New Year's Day, the average market prices of various vegetables have risen noticeably, among which the price of kidney beans rose from 6.34 yuan/kg to 8.86 yuan/kg, the price of green peppers rose from 6.21 yuan/kg to 8.75 yuan/kg, and the price of green eggplant rose from 5.85 yuan/kg to 7.39 yuan/kg. Others such as cucumbers, hot peppers, tomatoes, spinach and rapeseed are all above 7 yuan/kg, among which garlic sprouts are the most expensive, at 13.64 yuan per kg.
By rough count, among the 20 monitored vegetable varieties, half are priced above 7 yuan/kg. The person in charge of the Shenyang Shierxian Vegetable Wholesale Market told reporters that vegetable prices rise seasonally every winter, especially with large fluctuations before the Spring Festival, with increases of around 20%. But this year it is particularly pronounced, and it is estimated that in the coming month, affected by holiday consumption factors, vegetable prices will continue to rise.
Pork prices stop falling and rebound
After New Year's Day, pork prices, which had fallen slightly, finally stopped falling and rebounded, and the rebound was fairly rapid, with a cumulative increase of more than 5% over three days. Industry insiders say that increased pork consumption and increased shipments of live pigs out of the region have led to higher meat prices; this trend may continue for some time, but the increase will not be too large.
“Meat prices have risen every day these past few days, by one or two mao each day, and over three days they have accumulated a rise of six or seven mao. Based on the current pork price, the increase has already exceeded 5%.” Mr. Wang, who sells meat at the Lianhua Street Farmers' Market, told reporters that some time ago there was a phenomenon of difficulty in selling pigs in Shenyang and surrounding areas, but now this situation has eased somewhat, with more vehicles coming from other provinces to buy live pigs, and local live pig sales have improved; this is the direct reason for the rise in live pig prices.
According to data updated by the price department on January 14, the prices of pork belly, hind leg, lean meat, front shoulder and ribs are 28.57 yuan/kg, 27.43 yuan/kg, 30.43 yuan/kg, 27.86 yuan/kg and 37.57 yuan/kg respectively, about one yuan higher than at the beginning of the month.
Unlike the trend for pork, beef and mutton prices have remained stable recently and even show a downward trend. Mr. Li, owner of a beef and mutton specialty store, said that mutton prices have been declining all year, now around 20 yuan per jin, the lowest in the past two or three years. Beef has remained stable at around 30 yuan per jin, with little change recently, but judging from the previous trend, there may be a slight decline.