Vegetable Prices Up by 80% from Wholesale to Retail

Price of peppers has gone through tremendous increases along the over-2,800-kilometre road from farmlands in Hainan Province to produce markets in Beijing. For every kilo of the vegetable, the circulation costs, which include costs of packaging, cold storage, loading and unloading, and cargo freight, amount to 1.42 Yuan. That is to say, the price of peppers would exceed 1.42 Yuan per kilo in Beijing even if they were collected at no cost in Hainan Province.

There are many links from wholesale markets to retail markets, which contribute to price increase of vegetables. In fact, peppers are collected in Hainan at an average of 13.8 Yuan and the price will go up by 14 Yuan from its place of origin to Beijing, an increase of over 80%.

Zheng Fengtian, assistant dean of the school of agriculture and rural development in Renmin University in China, said that dozens of links and the increase of circulation costs from farmlands to dining tables were important factors of price increase in vegetables.