As the year-end approaches, can the grocery basket be carried with ease? A look at vegetable supply and prices

These days, the “New Year flavor” is growing stronger and stronger. For residents busy stocking up on New Year goods, what to eat during the Spring Festival is also a particularly important topic.

Today's "Ma Dasao" (shopping housewives) are paying more and more attention to how to eat healthily and eat fresh food, while also balancing the weight of their wallets, and carrying this “grocery basket” well has become a matter that tests one's life wisdom.

So, this year, are the prices of vegetables, seafood, chicken, duck and fish high? Is the supply sufficient? Is the quality good? And what new varieties are there? Today, reporters interviewed some wholesale markets, farmers' markets, supermarkets and street-side vegetable stalls to see whether this year's “grocery basket” is really easy to carry.

⟦NL> Vegetables: High temperatures bring down vegetable prices

In the evening, Boss Huo at the Fengqi Agricultural and Sideline Products Market in Xiacheng District, Hangzhou, was arranging rows of fresh, crisp vegetables at his stall, waiting for customers who would come to buy vegetables after work.

Small green vegetables at 3.5 yuan per jin, Chinese cabbage at 2 yuan per jin, cauliflower at 4.5 yuan per jin…… “This year's vegetables are not expensive.” Boss Huo told reporters that this price is even a bit lower than in January, and even broad beans and sweet peas, which in previous years sold at a “taste-testing price,” now cost only 13 yuan and 20 yuan per jin, 4 to 5 yuan cheaper than last year.

“This year's Spring Festival is about 20 days later than in previous years. Correspondingly, temperatures during this year's Spring Festival period are slightly higher than in previous years. In addition, the weather has been favorable, with no heavy snow and no severe cold, so vegetable output is relatively large, and prices will also decline slightly.” Zhang Guoping, deputy director of the Hangzhou Agricultural and Sideline Products Logistics Center Management Committee, told reporters.

Stable vegetable prices are also reflected in the monitoring data of the provincial Department of Commerce. The data show that since mid-to-late January, wholesale and retail prices of vegetables in our province have both seen slight declines, with vegetable prices lower than in the same period in previous years. It was not until early February, after a slight drop in temperature with light rain, that wholesale and retail prices of vegetables, fruits and aquatic products across the province rose slightly, but they were still much lower than the high levels during last year's Spring Festival.

Vegetable prices fell, but sales climbed steadily. “Now that living conditions are better, people instead do not like eating big fish and big meat. The dish that disappears fastest from the family dinner table every time is vegetables.” said citizen Ms. Xiang, who was choosing garland chrysanthemum.

In the past, vegetable sales at the logistics center were around 4,000 tons per day, and recent sales have already exceeded 4,500 tons. Zhang Guoping said, “Residents can buy freely. Recently, vegetable supply in the Hangzhou market has been sufficient, and with good weather, even transfer and transport are very convenient.”

Seafood: Prices may rise before the New Year

On the New Year dinner table, seafood is one of the indispensable “big dishes.” However, seafood prices these days are somewhat hard to understand.

In Hangzhou's Jinjiang Farmers' Market, the seafood sales area is filled with fresh seafood products, and many customers are making purchases. Prawns at 60 yuan per jin, hairtail at 30 yuan per jin, pomfret at 50 yuan per jin…… “The prices are more expensive than a while ago.” said citizen Aunt Wang. She had originally wanted to buy a hairtail to eat, but the price was a bit expensive.

“Most of the seafood fishing season has now passed. The weather in December was cold, and sea fish output was already low. In addition, around the New Year fishermen go out to sea less, supply is low, so prices go up.” explained stall owner Boss Qian. Before the New Year, people generally buy more, and prices also rise day by day. “It is estimated that prices will rise further in the few days before the New Year.”

“Seafood is all rising in price.” Zhang Guoping said that this year's overall seafood prices are lower than the same period last year. Last year, the wholesale price of white shrimp was above 25 yuan per jin, while now the supermarket price is around 30 yuan, so there may be some “catch-up increases” before the festival. Now high-end seafood is already 10% to 20% more expensive than a while ago.

In recent years, some imported fish have increasingly appeared in Hangzhou's seafood market. Among the more popular ones are orange roughy from Iceland, silver cod from France, and hairtail and pomfret from India. The prices are somewhat more expensive than regular seafood, “just for the freshness.”

In the seafood area of the Hangzhou Agricultural and Sideline Products Logistics Center, wholesaler Zhang Xiong told reporters that current daily seafood sales are around 3 tons, but this is still far from the peak. In previous years, sales would double starting this week, and prices would naturally rise somewhat as well.

Industry insiders remind that if people want to buy cheaper seafood during the Spring Festival, they can find time to visit the logistics center. River fish and river shrimp should be chosen as fresh as possible, but if considering price increases, residents can also stock up on sea fish and sea shrimp in the freezer compartment of their refrigerators, but they must pay attention to food storage safety.

Meat: Stable prices, sufficient supply

Compared with the rebound in seafood, this year's meat prices can be considered the most stable. At the Tesco supermarket on Jianguo North Road in Hangzhou, the prices of pork belly and regular pork are around 15 yuan per jin and 13 yuan per jin, while beef prices range from 35 yuan to 39 yuan per jin, with little change from before.

Relatively speaking, pork sales in recent years have not been as large as before, but the Hangzhou Agricultural and Sideline Products Logistics Center still maintains a supply of about 5,000 head per day. “So pork prices are still relatively stable,” Zhang Guoping said. “According to previous years' situations, beef and mutton generally rise in price only three days before the New Year. Last year beef sold for around 35 yuan, and during the New Year it sold for 40 yuan per jin.”

In addition, after the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement was signed in November last year, Hangzhou residents can also taste affordable and high-quality Australian beef. On Mashi Street in Shangcheng District, Hangzhou, a newly opened Australian affordable agricultural products store has just begun business, with beef shank at 43 yuan per jin and beef shoulder at 44 yuan per jin, which can also be considered relatively affordable.

Of course, chicken and duck are naturally indispensable on the New Year dinner table, but this year chicken and duck prices are not high, mostly more than 10 yuan per jin. Ms. Liu, a stall owner at the Fengqi Agricultural and Sideline Products Market, said that this year poultry prices are all not high. With more choices on the market, fewer people are eating chicken and duck than in previous years, so prices naturally cannot go up.

However, Hangzhou people's favorite soy-sauce duck and soy-sauce meat have still sold fairly well. At the Wanlong soy-sauce duck Tmall store, monthly sales of 600-gram soy-sauce shelduck have already exceeded 10,000. Since entering February, sales at Wanlong's offline counters have also clearly increased, with daily sales all above 100.