Ligustrum: Arbor-type Market Looks Promising, Shrub-type Prices Fall

Ligustrum is an evergreen tree or shrub of the genus Ligustrum in the family Oleaceae, and is one of the major products in China's landscaping nursery stock market. The common nursery varieties on the market are mainly small-leaf ligustrum, golden-leaf ligustrum, red-leaf ligustrum, etc. The main producing areas for ligustrum nursery stock are the 5 provinces of Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, among which Hunan and Jiangxi export relatively large quantities of large-specification arbor-type stock with a diameter at breast height of over 8 cm, and out-of-stock situations have appeared in quite a few areas. In 2004, the prices of Hunan stock with a diameter at breast height of 8, 12, 16, 20 and 30 cm were 200, 300, 500, 1000 and 1800 yuan respectively. Hubei has large production and sales of small-leaf ligustrum, mainly used for hedges and as rootstock for osmanthus. Zhejiang has large production and sales of golden-leaf ligustrum and red-leaf ligustrum, mainly used for dense planting in green spaces and pattern flower beds.

At present, the small-leaf ligustrum nursery stock market is already saturated, and the market prices of shrub-type stock such as cuttings and 1-year-old seedlings are only 0.02 yuan and 0.15 yuan respectively. Because production of golden-leaf ligustrum and red-leaf ligustrum stock has soared in recent years, prices have fallen considerably, with 1-year-old transplanted stock with a crown diameter of 25 cm dropping from 1.5 yuan to 0.3 yuan. According to industry insiders, ligustrum is easy to propagate by cuttings, grows relatively fast, and has relatively low production costs, so the current prices should be considered normal. In addition, the lack of standardized production is also an important reason for the price decline, especially since one- to two-year-old stock cannot reach the crown diameter of 25-35 cm required for dense planting in green spaces and color-block shaping. Therefore, commodity quality standards for ligustrum nursery stock should be introduced as soon as possible to regulate production and @#@136@#@.