Garlic prices say goodbye to "garlic you ruthless"; this year, garlic prices will only rise when they are reasonable
Is it still a question whether garlic prices will rise or fall in 2018? In past years people often jokingly called it "garlic you ruthless", but now for garlic farmers it is probably truly "garlic you miserable". According to data from the International Garlic Trade Network, at present the price level in garlic markets nationwide is basically around 0.9 yuan per jin, and compared with past years' prices of 1.5 yuan or even higher at every turn, this price level is truly a world of difference.
As for this year's drop in garlic prices, it cannot be said there were no signs at all. Since August 2017, garlic market prices had already been plunging downward due to saturation. From more than 2 yuan per jin, they fell all the way to 1 yuan per jin, a cut clean in half. As for the roller-coaster market of garlic prices, the root cause still lies in the asymmetry of garlic market information. The asymmetry of information between farmers and market demand directly leads to severe oversupply or undersupply of garlic.
In addition to the above reasons, years when garlic prices soared were also mostly marked by accidental factors. For example, when garlic prices were high in 2015-2016, one major reason was that garlic suffered freeze damage and production fell fairly severely. The rise in garlic prices that year also stimulated many farmers to actively join the ranks of garlic growers.
In the following years, 2016 and 2017, garlic planting area showed a straight-line upward trend. The increase in garlic area led to a rising trend in total garlic output, while the development of cold storage in recent years also led to too much cold-storage garlic piling up. As in this year, so far there is still cold-storage garlic held by garlic storage traders that has not been cleared out.
Cold-storage garlic and this year's new garlic flooding into the market together directly caused this year's sharp drop in garlic prices. For the many garlic farmers who expanded garlic planting, it can truly be described as increased production without increased income.
As a condiment, garlic has limited market demand after all; no one can possibly eat garlic as a meal. The situation of garlic prices soaring and crashing has also caused heavy losses for many farmers. In this regard, breaking the so-called garlic cycle and making garlic prices stable is the only way to safeguard the interests of garlic farmers and ordinary people.
As things stand now, garlic flake processing may be a feasible path. Compared with garlic, it can be stored longer and can also play a role in regulating the market. The state should provide certain support funds for garlic flake processing, such as interest-free loans! Increase garlic flake processing capacity and consume the garlic that is currently in severe oversupply in the garlic market.
In addition, it is also necessary for our country to improve the early-warning platform for the supply and demand industry. It seems that our country's agricultural products are always caught in a dead cycle of unsalable produce. This also reflects the unsound operating mechanism of our country's agricultural product market. Previously, it was proposed to adopt a registration system for agricultural product planting with reference to some developed countries in Europe and America, to balance market supply and avoid severe oversupply.
Moreover, the state should establish an early-warning platform and promptly publish the supply and expected future supply conditions of various agricultural product markets, so that farmers participating in planting can have a clear idea, stabilize our country's agricultural product planting area and supply conditions, which is not only conducive to safeguarding farmers' interests, but also conducive to stabilizing the price level of our country's agricultural products.
At this point one cannot help asking, when can the situation of unsalable agricultural products disappear?