Napa Cabbage Price Plummets to 8 Fen Per Jin With No Buyers, Tragedy of Low Prices Hurting Farmers Repeats

    In recent times, many agricultural products (000061) have once again seen sharp rises and falls. For farmers in the north, this year's napa cabbage has once again become a nightmare. Last year, the purchase price was 4 or 5 mao per jin and demand still exceeded supply; this year, at 7 or 8 fen, no one wants it, and farmers can only watch it rot in the fields.

It is not just cabbage; cotton has also once again taken a “roller coaster” ride, heading all the way down from last year's high point. At this time in previous years, it was the peak season for cotton picking and purchasing. In the fields, traders buying cotton and farmers haggling over prices could be seen everywhere in a lively scene. But this year, it is completely quiet.

Cabbage Price Falls to Two-Year Low; Vegetable Farmers: All That Work for Nothing

Statistics from the Beijing Xinfadi Market show that the price of cabbage has fallen to a two-year low. Why has it kept falling, and what is the market situation?

This morning, the reporter visited the morning market at Zhenwumiao Sitiao in Xicheng District, Beijing. In front of one stall, a customer was holding napa cabbage and haggling with the vegetable vendor.

Vegetable Vendor: One yuan for three jin.

Customer: What if I buy more?

Vegetable Vendor: If you buy more, it can be cheaper.

Reporter: Is it cheaper this year than before?

Vegetable Vendor: Much cheaper. At the same time last year, it sold for one yuan per jin, so it is down by more than half.

The reporter then interviewed Liu Tong, head of the statistics department at the Beijing Xinfadi Agricultural Products Wholesale Market. He described the recent price trend for napa cabbage:

Liu Tong: “In the past few days, the price of napa cabbage has been gradually declining. As of yesterday, the price seemed to be stabilizing somewhat. The price we are selling at now is generally between 1 mao 6 and 2 mao. At this time last year, it was about 5 mao to 5 mao 5. This year it has dropped a lot compared with last year.”

In Sijia Village, Tangwang Town, Jinan, Shandong, almost every household planted three or four mu of cabbage. But with the cabbage harvest approaching, they can only look at the cabbage covering the ground with worried faces.

Villager A: “Last year, the price of cabbage was 4 or 5 mao; this year it is only 7 or 8 fen, 8 or 9 fen.

Reporter: Can't sell it?

Villager A: Yeah, can't sell it.”

Villager B: “Can't sell it, it rots, and once it rots it can only be disposed of as garbage.”

Reporter: All that work for nothing this year?

Villager: All that work for nothing. Next year we'll have to change trades and grow something else. Whatever you want to eat, we'll grow it.”

Cotton farmer Tang Chunhua: “This year, each mu yielded more than 100 jin less than last year. Even the best land only harvested about 350 or 360 jin. Right now, fertilizer, pesticides and seeds alone cost more than 500 per mu. After deducting all sorts of expenses, one mu can't even bring in 1,500 yuan. Counting 320 in labor costs per mu, there is basically no profit. If you hire someone to pick it, you might even lose money.”

What exactly caused the drop in cabbage prices? Yang Hongkai, vice president of the China Agricultural Products Market Association, analyzed it this way:

Yang Hongkai: One reason is that this year's vegetable supply is plentiful; the second is that the planting area increased; and another is that the main napa cabbage production areas had a bumper harvest this year.

The reasons for the drop in cotton prices are even more complex. Our reporter interviewed Wang Li, a futures trader who has long followed cotton prices. She told us that, from the current situation, the economies of Europe and the United States are sluggish, the overall export environment for China's textiles has deteriorated, and domestic textile enterprises face rising costs, causing demand to decline.

Wang Li: “Last year, cotton prices were in a state of crazy increases. After such a sharp rise, a rational correction is also reasonable. China is a major cotton textile exporter, and the decline in export volume has also led to the slide in cotton prices.”

Since the beginning of this year, the phenomenon of “cheap vegetables hurting farmers” has appeared many times. Taking Shandong, China's largest vegetable-producing province, as an example alone, from the unsold portions of leafy vegetables in May, to the price declines of garlic and ginger in early October, and now to cabbage, vegetable farmers' interests have suffered great losses. Guo Hongwei, deputy director of the Market Circulation Division of the Shandong Provincial Department of Commerce, said the main reason is that the level of organization in vegetable farmers' production is currently too low. Most production is household by household and cannot form scale.

Guo Hongwei: “The key is that vegetable growers find it very hard to grasp future market planting conditions. We now all produce as individual households. When a certain variety is planted too much, many vegetables easily hit the same market at once. This is the most important thing. Your household-by-household production cannot adapt to the requirements of large-scale circulation. The key is to raise the level of organization in our vegetable production. Once the overall productivity level rises, the grasp and judgment of the market will become accurate, and the problem of hurting farmers will also be better solved.”