Is growing London plane seedlings profitable? Farmers blindly following the trend drives prices down

Recently, the author learned from the Shandong Liying Nursery Stock Association that London plane trees are currently selling well in the Jining nursery market, but due to farmers following the trend in planting in recent years and a lack of standardization, prices are trending downward.

"In recent years, what has been relatively popular on the market are seedlings with a diameter at breast height of over 10 cm. This size of seedling has low requirements for the crown, and both sales and supply are currently fairly stable." said Li Weidong, president of the Liying Nursery Stock Association. Although sales are good, prices have still fallen compared with the boom period. Prices for seedlings with a diameter at breast height of over 10 cm have dropped by about 20%-30%, while prices for small-specification seedlings have fallen even more; for example, the price of seedlings with a diameter at breast height of 5 cm has dropped to around 10 yuan. "The London plane market has been very sluggish these past two years." he said.

The reason for the drop in London plane prices is largely related to the market becoming saturated.When London plane trees were selling hot in Jining, the Jining area supplied almost the entire national London plane market. Many people who knew nothing about nursery stock saw how well London planes were selling and followed the trend by planting in large quantities, resulting in uneven production specifications and quality of the seedlings. With the market sluggish these past two years, these farmers have been selling off their stock one after another, which has not only caused the London plane planting area in Jining to shrink noticeably, but also made it impossible to sell non-standard, poor-quality seedlings at a good price. "In 2014, the London plane planting area was about 550,000 mu, and this year it has decreased by about 15% year-on-year." Li Weidong said.