How much is sea cucumber per jin? Extreme weather causes massive production cuts, prices remain high

Original title: Extreme weather causes massive sea cucumber production cuts; analyst: prices will remain high

According to a report by China National Radio's "Sannong China," sea cucumber is once again selling well for autumn and winter nourishment. Many friends still remember that after the sea cucumber industry went through a period of expansion, prices fell quite badly a few years ago. So how are prices doing recently?

According to reporters, since August this year, the sea cucumber market has shown signs of recovery, and prices have rebounded.

As the weather turns colder, sea cucumbers in Qingdao, Shandong, have entered the harvesting season.

Su Ling, a sea cucumber buyer from Fujian, told reporters that in previous years he only needed two days to return fully loaded from Qingdao, but this year he spent 4 days searching everywhere and raising his prices before completing his purchasing task.

Su Ling: In previous years we could buy 10,000 jin or 20,000 jin a day quite easily; this year we can only buy 3,000 jin or 5,000 jin a day. Across all of Shandong, perhaps only about 20% of sea cucumbers are left.

Xu Chunhui, an analyst at the Weihai Aquatic Products Wholesale Market in Shandong, revealed to reporters that in the first half of this year, the sea cucumber market was still sluggish. At midyear, greenhouse-farmed live sea cucumber was 40 yuan per jin, setting the lowest market price in nearly five years. Then starting in August, the sea cucumber market gradually heated up, and especially after this year's National Day, sea cucumber prices rebounded sharply.

Xu Chunhui: Recently, sea cucumber prices in the market have continued to run at a high level. Recently, the market price of greenhouse-farmed live sea cucumber has been 126-130 yuan per kilogram, up 25.5% year-on-year.

The reason is that in August this year Qingdao experienced rare high temperatures, and the water in the breeding ponds reached 35°C. Sea cucumbers died in large patches, causing a massive reduction in output. The shrinking output brought rising prices, according to sea cucumber farmer Han Haiyang.

Farmer: This year's price is somewhat better than previous years. In previous years it was about 50, this year it is between 55 and 60.

At the same time, analyst Xu Chunhui believes that in addition to the production cuts caused by high temperatures, the industry's internal adjustment in previous years, with many small operators exiting farming, has also worsened the current shortage of supply in the market.

Xu Chunhui: The market supply of sea cucumbers has decreased. Before 2011, sea cucumber products set off a boom in the high-end market, but afterward, due to reckless expansion, industry capacity expanded rapidly, and sea cucumber prices kept falling, which in turn led to a downturn across the entire industry chain, including seedling cultivation, farming, and processing.

The situation of low output will continue for a long time, because Qingdao sea cucumbers take about two years from seeding to farming. Now this batch of sea cucumbers that had been farmed for 1 year has died in large numbers, and the current gap in the market will need at least a one-year repair period. It is precisely because they have seen this cycle that many small and medium-sized wholesalers are now starting to stockpile goods in response to rising sea cucumber prices.

Retailer: As Spring Festival approaches, sea cucumber prices can rise 15%. Now sea cucumber markets across the country, large and small, have already rebounded, and many processors have begun holding back sales.

In terms of market demand, domestic demand for sea cucumber has basically bottomed out. Coupled with the growing public awareness of sea cucumber's nutritional benefits, personal consumption has begun to climb steadily, and signs of recovery have already appeared in some areas. As Spring Festival approaches, the northern sea cucumber market has now entered the peak consumption season. First, entering winter, consumers' purchasing power has strengthened somewhat; second, at the end of the year, many processing enterprises are successively purchasing and processing dried sea cucumbers. Therefore, analyst Xu Chunhui expects that sea cucumber prices are likely to continue running at a high level in the short term.

Xu Chunhui: Industry insiders analyzed and believe that changes in sea cucumber prices also show a major cycle of one round every five years. It is expected that by next autumn, sea cucumber prices are likely to rise to their highest point.

(Source: CNR.cn Author: Liu Yuying)