Wang Yuanyuan
VEGETABLE prices in Shenzhen have doubled in the past five weeks due to the cold weather across the province, the city s farm produce markets said yesterday.
Despite a slight fall in prices last week, the average wholesale price of leafy vegetables has increased from 1.27 yuan (US$0.19) to 2.51 yuan since mid-December and the price was expected to rise further in the coming weeks.
Compared with last week, prices for most leafy vegetables have increased by 20 to 30 percent. The average price of cabbage was now 2.98 yuan for 500 grams, while the average price of spinach was about 4.18 yuan for 500 grams, said Lin Shaoru, a manager from the Buji Farm Produce Wholesale Market.
Forty percent of the leafy vegetables in Shenzhen are from Guangdong Province and the rest are from Shandong, Yunnan and Hainan. Except for Hainan, all the vegetables in other areas grow much slower in cold weather, so supply has decreased, Lin said.
Meanwhile, many residents like to cook hot pot at home in cold weather and leafy vegetables are one of the most popular ingredients, so demand has also increased sharply.
Prices of garlic, potatoes, cucumbers and tomatoes remained stable compared with last week, while prices for rice and flour had also remained stable with only slight increases, Lin said.
Pork prices had not increased since the end of October with the average price at about 9 yuan per 500 grams, but the average price of lamb had increased sharply from 30 to 35 yuan in one week, the highest rise in recent years. The sharp increase was due to the increased demand because more people eat lamb in winter, Lin said.
Sales of lamb increased by at least 40 percent in the past two weeks. Normally we stock up once a day, but we had to stock up two or three times a day in the past two weeks, a wholesaler said.
