Extreme Weather Causes Mung Bean Production Drop; Analyst: Prices Hard to Rise

CNR News, Beijing, September 14 (Reporter Liu Yuying) According to China Rural Voice's "San Nong China" report, mung beans are a hot-selling item throughout the summer. Now that White Dew has passed, as the weather turns cooler, mung beans from the north have begun to hit the market. It is understood that production areas in Inner Mongolia have been affected by drought, and mung bean output may decline, with quality also affected.

Everyone still remembers that 6 years ago, speculative capital once hyped mung beans, with prices soaring from 5 yuan per jin to 12 yuan per jin at one point. After the speculative capital withdrew, mung bean prices plummeted. But with northern mung bean production declining this year, will prices rise again?

Recently, multiple areas in Taiping Township, Tuquan County, Inner Mongolia, were hit by hail, causing severe damage to mung bean fields. Han Xuefeng, Party branch secretary of Sandaogou Village in Taiping Township, said that more than 1,000 mu of mung beans in the village were affected, and they are currently busy with emergency harvesting.

There was a hailstorm, and 15 million mu in our village were affected. It is very difficult to sell the damaged mung beans.

According to statistics, 10,000 mu of mung beans in Taiping Township suffered total crop failure this time. Sun Mengmeng, an analyst at Sublime China Information, said that May is the concentrated sowing period for mung beans each year, and severe drought in Inner Mongolia this year delayed the sowing time for mung beans. From August to September, new mung beans in many places were affected in yield due to earlier drought, and since early September, most areas of Inner Mongolia and the three northeastern provinces have experienced continuous rainfall, with hail even occurring. Right now is the season when mung beans begin to be harvested and marketed one after another, but this year's climate has truly been too much for local farmers to handle.

Sun Mengmeng: Drought was severe in most areas of Jilin, Inner Mongolia, and parts of Heilongjiang, leading to a decline in mung bean production. In a normal year, production is around 150 jin, but this year it is only around 100 jin, though the quality of the new crop is relatively good. And since mung beans entered the harvest period at the end of August, large-scale continuous rainfall has occurred in Inner Mongolia and the three northeastern provinces. The rainfall has now lasted for half a month. Due to the long duration of rain, mung beans have shown water-soaked bean and water rust phenomena. This year, very few supplies meet the standard for sprouting beans, and the supply of commercial mung beans is limited.

Analyst Sun Mengmeng introduced that mung beans generally come to market between the end of August and September 20. Due to continuous rainfall in production areas this year, the mung beans have not yet dried, and the harvest time has been postponed to the end of September. At the same time, with demand sluggish, even if production has declined, ordinary mung bean prices will be hard to rise significantly.

Sun Mengmeng: Because natural disasters have led to poor mung bean quality, very few supplies meet the sprouting bean standard. It is expected that prices for high-quality sprouting beans will rise later, while before the Spring Festival, mung beans are in the off-season for commercial mung bean demand. With poor quality this year, commercial mung bean prices will find it hard to rise.

Looking back at the overall trend of mung beans this year, even in the traditional peak season of summer, prices did not rise. Analyst Sun Mengmeng believes this is due to an increase in heat-relief products this year as well as climatic influences, with overall mung bean demand decreasing compared with the previous year, and prices lower than the same period last year. Mung beans have seen a situation where the peak season is not prosperous.

Sun Mengmeng: June to September each year is the peak demand season for mung beans, and prices rise. But starting in 2015, mung bean prices fell instead of rising. In 2015, mung bean prices fell from 5.05 yuan/jin in June to 4.1 yuan/jin at the end of August, a decline of 18.81%. This year, the mung bean market is even more abnormal, with mung bean prices continuing to remain stable at a low level since June.

In addition, the reason the price increase for mung beans has narrowed in recent years is also related to imported Myanmar mung beans. In 2010, low-priced Myanmar mung beans entered the Chinese market, affecting domestic mung beans and further squeezing the room for domestic mung bean price increases.

Sun Mengmeng: In the past two years, because Myanmar mung beans are low-priced, more and more domestic merchants have been purchasing Myanmar mung beans, causing the share of domestic mung beans to shrink. At present, the ratio of domestic to imported mung beans is 7:3.

So, given such a market situation, what business strategy should farmers adopt? According to estimates by Sublime China Information analysts, new-season mung bean prices will still not be high. It is suggested that high-quality mung beans can be stored in small quantities, while lower-quality ones should be sold as they are purchased.

Sun Mengmeng: For the most basic growers, planting should be rational. When mung bean prices rise or fall sharply, the planting amount should not be too much or too little, and they should also pay attention to the prices of miscellaneous grain substitutes, such as sorghum and legumes. For grain merchants, they should participate cautiously in market activities, purchase in appropriate amounts, and avoid risks caused by excessive inventory. At the same time, they should establish more cooperative relationships with manufacturers and broaden sales channels.