Jinan releases reserve vegetables to the market, cabbage just over 1 yuan per jin

In recent days, snow, falling temperatures and a cold wave have hit Jinan, causing vegetable prices to soar. To stabilize vegetable prices and ensure the supply of the “vegetable basket” in the Jinan urban area, on the 23rd Jinan used the government's emergency reserve vegetables and officially released them to the market, at prices far below market price. It is understood that this is the first time since Jinan established a winter emergency vegetable reserve system that reserves have been released to the market to stabilize vegetable prices.

Monitoring data from the price department show that in recent days most vegetable prices on the market have risen, with some vegetables rising by more than 20 percent in a single day, and increases generally exceeding 30 percent compared with last week, with some even exceeding 70 percent. On the 23rd, a relevant person from the Jinan Municipal Bureau of Commerce said that as early as 2011, Jinan had already established a winter vegetable emergency reserve system, precisely to respond to special situations such as extreme severe weather. On December 1, 2015, the purchasing and storage plan for this winter was already completed, with a total of 15,000 tons of vegetables in reserve, divided into 4 varieties, including 10,000 tons of Chinese cabbage, 3,000 tons of potatoes, 1,000 tons of radishes, and 1,000 tons of carrots. At present, 7 enterprises at Jinan Hualian and the Kuangshan Vegetable Wholesale Market are undertaking the storage. These enterprises were determined according to the principles of “combining near and far, balanced distribution points, all locally produced, convenient transfer, and timely release”, and the government will provide a certain financial subsidy. On the 23rd, according to the arrangements of the Jinan Municipal Bureau of Commerce, the storage-undertaking enterprises began releasing reserve vegetables to stabilize vegetable prices.

Early on the 23rd, at the reserve base of Jinan Hualian in Tangwang Town, the reporter saw that staff were working overtime to release some reserve vegetables to various supermarket stores. The prices of these reserve vegetables are far below market price; for example, cabbage sold at Hualian Supermarket costs only 0.99 yuan/jin, even lower than the wholesale price at the Kuangshan Wholesale Market (1 yuan/jin). “Since we receive government subsidies, the price must certainly be lower than market price.” A relevant person from the Jinan Municipal Bureau of Commerce said that there are regulations on the release price: it will refer to the wholesale price of the same variety on that day at the Kuangshan Vegetable Wholesale Market, the release price of the storage-undertaking entities will be more than 10% lower, and the wholesale-retail price difference at release retail points will be controlled within 50%.

According to the introduction, Jinan's emergency reserve vegetables total 15,000 tons, mainly calculated according to the demand for 4 to 5 days of supply for the urban area's population of 4 million. Industry insiders said that next Monday Jinan's temperatures will gradually rise, and by then the situation of tight supply will ease, vegetable prices will gradually fall back, and this release of reserve vegetables is expected to play its due role.