Beijing green onion prices 60% cheaper than last year

The green onions that entered the "luxury" menu after this year's Spring Festival have lost their "aristocratic air." On the 16th, reporters visited Xinfadi agricultural products wholesale market, Beijing's "vegetable basket," and learned that green onion prices fell this week to 0.4-0.7 yuan/jin, down more than 60% from the same period last year, reaching the lowest price of the year.

At present, it is the season when summer early-crop vegetables and late-crop vegetables are rotating in supply. A Beijing Morning Post reporter learned from the Xinfadi market that most vegetable crop rotation is nearing its end. Because the summer vegetable planting area in Beijing's production areas is relatively large this year, vegetable prices are still continuing to decline and will run for a fairly long time in a price range lower than the same period last year.

Increased planting area drives green onion prices down

After the Spring Festival, green onion prices soared all the way, and by April they had increased by about 800% year on year. This led to the saying that "if you open your mouth to speak with onion breath, you're showing off your wealth." When buying green onions, residents also changed from "buying by the bundle" to "buying by the stalk."

Mao Yongxi, a major green onion wholesaler at the Xinfadi market, introduced that the main reason for the earlier surge in green onion prices was a major reduction in planting area. "Green onion prices had previously risen sharply, so more farmers planted green onions. As a result, green onions were unsalable for two consecutive years. Last year, vegetable growers' green onions all rotted in the fields; even if they were given to us for free and hauled to the market, we still lost money."

But after seeing green onion prices rise this spring, many farmers again increased the planting area for the late second crop of onions. With the large-scale arrival on the market of second-crop onions, green onion prices also entered a "crash" mode. According to statistics, on August 12, the wholesale price of green onions at the Xinfadi market was 0.4-0.7 yuan/jin, while the price in the same period last year was 1.1-1.7 yuan/jin, a year-on-year decrease of 60.71%. "Farmers growing green onions are complaining bitterly, and merchants selling green onions cannot make money either. Every link in the green onion supply chain is struggling," said Liu Tong, head of the Xinfadi statistics department.

Vegetable prices will run at a low level for a relatively long time

Liu Tong introduced that last week the weighted average price of vegetables at the Xinfadi market was basically stable, fluctuating slightly, and still continuing to decline.

According to statistics, on August 12 the weighted average price of vegetables at the Xinfadi market was 1.71 yuan/kg, down 1.72% from 1.74 yuan/kg on August 5; and down 28.45% from 2.39 yuan/kg in the same period last year. Overall, the previous week's vegetable price fell month on month, and last week it continued to decline month on month.

At present, vegetables at the Xinfadi market are undergoing crop rotation, with some early-crop vegetables withdrawn from the market and late-crop vegetables arriving on the market. This phenomenon has caused connection problems in the vegetable supply chain. When late-crop vegetables meet the conditions for large-scale market arrival, vegetable prices fall; when late-crop vegetables arriving on the market and early-crop vegetables being withdrawn create a gap in supply, vegetable prices rise. Therefore, some recent fluctuations in vegetable prices are unavoidable.

For example, chives, currently a hot vegetable on the market, fell 46.15% week on week and 47.5% year on year. This is because many places in the south now have locally grown chives, so the scale of chives shipped south has shrunk substantially, and the surplus chives have poured into the Xinfadi market in large quantities, causing prices to fall sharply.

Pork prices fall immediately after the Start of Autumn

In addition, a Beijing Morning Post reporter learned that before the Start of Autumn, driven by consumption associated with the Start of Autumn custom of "putting on autumn fat," pork prices at the Xinfadi market showed a steady upward trend, but after the Start of Autumn prices fell continuously.

According to monitoring, on August 12 the average wholesale price of dressed pigs at the Xinfadi market was 10.75 yuan/jin, down 2.71% from 11.05 yuan/jin on August 5; and down 5.12% from 11.33 yuan/jin in the same period last year.

Liu Tong introduced that in the past two weeks, the average wholesale price of dressed pigs at the Xinfadi market went through one process of spiking and then falling back. The average wholesale price of dressed pigs rose rapidly from 10.45 yuan/jin on July 30 to 11.48 yuan/jin on August 6. In one week the price rose 9.86%, and by August 12 it had quickly fallen back to 10.75 yuan/jin, down 6.36% within one week. The range of pork price fluctuation was very obvious. Liu Tong said that this process of spiking and falling back was entirely caused by the Start of Autumn custom of "putting on autumn fat" and had nothing to do with the overall trend of pork prices. "The high prices during the Start of Autumn solar term will be very difficult to break through in the months after the Start of Autumn. If the high prices during the Start of Autumn are to be broken through, it generally requires waiting until after entering December."

As for the trend of pork prices in the second half of the year, Liu Tong still sticks to his earlier conclusion, namely that the period of the largest gap between live pig supply and demand has already passed, and the overall situation of live pig supply has shifted from tight to loose. The upward momentum in pork prices in early August has passed, and for a period afterward, pork prices will run below the price level of early August. (Beijing Morning Post)