How much your vegetables will sell for, just look at the big screen
“If you want to know how much your vegetables will sell for today, just look at the market's big screen.” In the early hours of the 4th, at the Shouguang vegetable market, vegetable farmer Zhang Qimin from Luocheng Subdistrict told reporters. The big screen Zhang Qimin mentioned actually refers to part of the raw data of the vegetable price index released by Shouguang. In Shouguang, every day in the early hours when the vegetable market opens, the market authorities analyze the previous day's sales volume and prices, calculate the average wholesale price of vegetables, and post it on the big screen, providing vegetable farmers with a reference price for that day's vegetable wholesale. On the 4th, the first “Expert Forum on Vegetable Industry Development and Vegetable Price Index” was held in Shouguang. Shi Yufeng, dean of the School of Statistics at Shandong University of Finance and Economics, said that the establishment of the price index system may put an end to phenomena such as “Jiang You Jun” (ginger prices soaring), “Suan You Hen” (garlic prices soaring), and “Dou You Wan” (soybean prices soaring), in which vegetable prices fluctuate sharply.
Shouguang Vegetable Index Has Become a National Bellwether
Many citizens still remember the “Jiang You Jun” of early 2014, when the price of ginger reached more than 20 yuan per kilogram, even higher than the price of pork, and many citizens complained bitterly about it. That was already the second time ginger prices had skyrocketed; the earlier “Suan You Hen” and “Dou You Wan” had also triggered huge market reactions. In recent years, experts have been advising relevant government departments and units to improve the vegetable price index system.
Shouguang's vegetable price index system emerged in response. As of now, the price index system has been officially compiled and released for one year.
⟦NL> “Every day in the early hours when the vegetable market opens, the big screen instantly posts the previous day's average market wholesale price for each kind of vegetable." Lu Guodong, assistant manager of the Shouguang Fruit and Vegetable Wholesale Market, said that the Shouguang price index currently covers thirty-four kinds of vegetables. Every day the market authorities analyze the previous day's sales volume and prices, calculate that day's average vegetable wholesale price, and publish it on the market's big screen in the early hours of the next day. The most intuitive function of the price index is to provide vegetable farmers with a benchmark or reference price for vegetable wholesale. Vegetable farmers can adjust that day's vegetable prices in a timely way based on the previous day's average vegetable wholesale price posted on the big screen.
Because Shouguang is one of the four major vegetable trading markets in the country and also the world's third-largest vegetable-producing area, Shouguang's vegetable price index is a bellwether for vegetable prices nationwide. At present, all vegetable price index statistics nationwide are required to include the Shouguang vegetable price index; otherwise, the data would not be representative.
The Vegetable Price System Can Reduce Farmers' Risks
In the view of Shi Yufeng, dean of the School of Statistics at Shandong University of Finance and Economics, the role of the Shouguang vegetable price index is not as simple as being just a price bellwether. Shi Yufeng said that Shandong Shouguang Vegetable Industry Holding Group is currently cooperating with the Big Data and Index Research Institute of Shandong University of Finance and Economics. In the future, the hope is to turn this price index into a systematic system, and by then its significance will be instructive not only for Shandong, but for the whole country and even the whole world.
“This is like a stock market index.” Shi Yufeng took the current stock market as an example: “For example, we all know now that the index has surged to around 4500 points; this represents the overall stock market trend, not just a single stock. The price index system also hopes to achieve this: in addition to indicating the daily trend of vegetable wholesale prices, more importantly, it should be combined with market analysis, including professional statistical data analysis, not only on prices and market conditions but also on predictions of future market trends, and so on. Incorporate weather, social and political factors, and everything else into the factors affecting the price system, and use big-data thinking to analyze the direction of the vegetable market.”
Shi Yufeng believes that vegetables are a major matter concerning the national economy and people's livelihood. In recent years, phenomena such as “Jiang You Jun”, “Suan You Hen”, and “Dou You Wan” have had a huge impact on people's livelihoods, and to minimize the probability of these situations occurring, establishing a vegetable price index system is something that must be done.
Shi Yufeng said that once the vegetable price system is complete in the future, a vegetable futures market index can be established just like the stock market, reducing vegetable farmers' risks in growing vegetables to a certain extent. For example, at present, vegetable farmers grow vegetables entirely at the mercy of the weather: if the market is good, they sell well; if the market is bad, they can only accept their fate. Once the futures market index is established, vegetable farmers can list their products on the futures market index in advance, so the market price is set in advance, risks are transferred, and returns are guaranteed.
Our Province Will Comprehensively Build a Price Index System
The reporter learned from the Provincial Price Bureau that, in addition to Shouguang's vegetable price system, our province is actively promoting the construction of the Shandong price index. After a period of work, the first phase has already planned and included ten price indices, including Shouguang vegetables, Linyi Mall, Jinluo live pigs, Zibo chemicals, Yantai apples, Luhua edible oil, Jinxiang garlic, Qingdao rubber, Dongying tires, and Rizhao timber.
By searching the Shandong Province Price Index System website, anyone can learn about the recent average price of a certain product or a certain category of products and the price trend over a period of time, as detailed as the stock market index.
The reporter learned that the Shouguang vegetable wholesale price index, the Linyi Mall comprehensive index, and the Jinluo price index have already passed expert review, were officially released to the public in December 2014, and have achieved synchronous connection with the China Development Network of the National Development and Reform Commission.
Wang Luyue, director of the Price Monitoring Center of the Shandong Provincial Price Bureau, said that comprehensively advancing the construction of the Shandong price index system can help “Shandong prices” seize domestic and international discourse power. In the future era of big data, it can effectively consolidate and promote the favorable price position of our province's related industries in the domestic and international economic division of labor system.