High risk in winter vegetable planting, 2012 may see a warm winter

Data shows that an El Nino phenomenon is forming in 2012!
A warm winter is one of the main consequences of El Nino's impact on China's climate. And once a warm winter occurs, winter-planted vegetables may face oversupply.
The hardest hit by a warm winter will be Hainan's winter-planted melons and vegetables. Hainan plants about 2.4 million mu of winter melons and vegetables each year, and the main factor regulating their market price is the winter temperature. In a cold winter, anything planted makes money. In a warm winter, the risk is extremely high. If harvesting can peak from December to January, price risk may be reduced, but for the vast majority of farmers who only switch to melons and vegetables after the rice harvest, this may be very difficult.

Market: Warm winter brings high vegetable yields

Every year when the Spring Festival arrives, vegetable prices are always the most expensive of the year. However, when the weather is cold during the Spring Festival, vegetable yields are low, so prices rise. But if affected by a warm winter, vegetable yields are higher than in previous years, market supply is ample, and prices will fall rather than rise.