Ginger wholesale prices hit the lowest in nearly 10 years

Last year's soaring price of ginger hit a big “diving” this year. The wholesale price of the origin market plummeted from the highest of 9.6 yuan/kg to 0.7 yuan/kg, reaching the lowest level in nearly 10 years.

According to monitoring, the price of ginger has been declining since the beginning of this year. In October, the average wholesale price of ginger in the wholesale market was 3.91 yuan/kg, down by 9% month-on-month and down by 59.3% year-on-year. Some farmers suffered heavy losses.

According to a survey conducted by the Shandong Provincial Department of Agriculture, the current price of ginger in the ginger and garlic wholesale market in Anqiu City is 0.8 to 1.2 yuan/kg, and the lowest price has dropped to 0.7 yuan/kg. Weifang City export company ginger purchase price of 1.0 ~ 1.2 yuan / kg; leading companies according to the contract price slightly higher, for the 2.4 yuan / kg.

In fact, the price of ginger has repeatedly returned between soaring and plunging. Judging from the situation in the place of origin, the sharp drop in the price of ginger caused Jiang Nang to lose money. According to estimates by the Shandong Provincial Department of Agriculture, this year's ginger production cost per mu (excluding labor costs) is about 6,000 yuan. According to the current price level, ginger farmers grow at least 1,500 yuan in 1 mu of ginger.

Why is the price of ginger so volatile?

Blindly expanding the supply of oversupply industry analysts, the oversupply is the main reason for the price plummet. Due to the temptation of rising ginger prices last year, the enthusiasm of farmers in planting ginger this year has been rising. Not only has the main producing areas in Shandong increased planting area, farmers in Henan and Liaoning have begun to grow ginger. In addition, when ginger prices were high last year, some ginger farmers stored large amounts of ginger for sale. This year, prices continued to drop. High-priced ginger could not only be sold at a reasonable price, but also squeezed out the storage capacity of new ginger.

In addition to the price of ginger, in recent years, garlic, mung bean, pepper and other crops, which have experienced soaring prices due to hot money speculation, have also encountered significant price cuts. The main reason is that farmers have blindly expanded their crops under the expectations of price increases, and the market is in excess supply, and prices have plummeted. Due to the special nature of agricultural production, the income of farmers is often the lowest when the price of agricultural products rises. At the time of price reduction, the farmers bear most of the losses, and some even lose everything. However, once a certain agricultural product appears to have “price hurts farmers,” it will inevitably lead to a decrease in planting area in the next year, which will lay the foundation for a new round of skyrocketing.

How to get out of the violent cycle?

The government regulates the fundamentals of on-demand production. It is difficult for a household's "small-scale production" to adapt to the ever-changing "big market." Decentralized farmers cannot grasp market supply and demand information in a timely and adequate manner. They can only adjust their own market behavior based on the previous round of market conditions and blindly “chasing and selling”. Therefore, we must establish a sound agricultural product market information release platform, give full play to the role of government departments, intermediary organizations, leading enterprises and other aspects, provide farmers with accurate market supply and demand information, and guide them to arrange production according to market needs, in accordance with the relationship between supply and demand. Changes are made in due course.

Secondly, the government’s regulation and supervision should be taken into account in an integrated manner. It should not be implemented only when food prices are high. When the price of vegetables is low, the government should also “sell the shots when they are shot”, introduce relevant control measures, and insist on combining support for production with guaranteed supply. , Effectively safeguard the reasonable income of the farmers. It is not only concerned with the “vegetable basket” of the urban residents, but also with the farmers’ “gardens” to keep the prices of agricultural products stable.

Preventing the sudden rise and fall of agricultural products, the most fundamental thing is to stabilize the market from the perspective of production. We should increase the degree of organization of farmers and raise the overall level of industrial development.