Chinanews.com, Jinan, November 1st. Title: Visiting Zhangqiu Scallion Planting Base in Shandong: "Xiang Qian Cong" reappears in the world
Author Mingrui Li
Following the "crazy" of green vegetables and the "not calm" of eggs, the price of green onions has also skyrocketed recently.
Recently, reporters from Chinanews.com visited the Jinan Farmers Market and Zhangqiu Green Onion Planting Base to understand the current situation of green onion prices and explore the reasons behind the increase in green onion prices.
Citizens select green onions at the farmers' market and ask for their prices.
Photo by Li Mingrui
Online and offline scallion prices are rising to varying degrees
"Why are scallions so expensive? Forget it, let's buy less!" At a farmer's market in Jinan, a citizen who was buying scallions sighed. Originally, he wanted to buy more scallions in the market and go home to make dumplings with scallions that his grandson loved, but found scallions. The price has risen to 5.8 yuan per catty (RMB, the same below), and finally I gritted my teeth and only bought two.
Onion farmers harvest Zhangqiu green onions in the field.
Photo by Li Mingrui
"The price of green onions this year is generally too expensive." A vegetable vendor who has been selling vegetables at the farmer's market for five years said that the price of green onions in mid-October was about 4 yuan, but after entering the second half of the year, the purchase price has risen to nearly 4 yuan.
"The purchase price is so expensive, and we can't sell it cheaply."
Not only at the farmer’s market, the reporter noticed that in a fresh supermarket on a takeaway platform, some scallions are priced at 3.5 yuan/250g, and some are priced at 5.5 yuan/250g, a total of 7 yuan, 11 yuan per catty, and even Some green onions cost nearly 6 yuan per one.
According to data from the Shandong Price Monitoring and Early Warning Network, the average transaction price (including retail price, wholesale price, supermarket price, etc.) of Shandong green onions on October 30 was 5.62 yuan/kg, and the average transaction price on October 16 was 4.34 yuan/kg. The half-month increase was about 23%.
Reduced production leads to rising prices of onions
In order to investigate the reason for the increase in green onion prices, the reporter drove to the Zhangqiu green onion planting base in Jinan. All the way, he saw the fields, hundreds of acres of green onions "stand upright" waiting to be harvested. The air was filled with the smell of green onions. Collect the green onions in the field while tying them.
Onion farmers harvest Zhangqiu green onions in the field.
Photo by Li Mingrui
Zhang Shoudun, the operator of Zhangqiu Rongsheng scallion, introduced to reporters, "In the past half month, Zhangqiu scallion has risen. The price of scallion (the source of the onion unearthed in the field) has increased from 1.3 yuan to 1.4 yuan, and the price will increase by 50 yuan in two or three days. The price rose by 1.5 yuan within, from 1.4 yuan directly to 3 yuan."
The onion farmers transport the neatly bundled green onions after harvest to the truck.
Photo by Li Mingrui
Speaking of the reasons for the price increase of green onions, Zhang Shoudun said that the main factor causing the price increase of green onions this year is the decrease in output, which leads to short supply.
There was a lot of rain from July to August this year, which caused flooding of green onions and reduced production.
"Last year, the output per mu of land was 13,000-17,000. This year, the output of one mu of land was only 5,000-8,000." In addition, because young people go out to work, the elderly alone are old and inconvenient to move, which has led to a decrease in many growers. Planting area.
Onion farmers are sorting and picking up the scallions, and peeling off the outer dead leaves.
Photo by Li Mingrui
The concentration of group purchases and the increase in the price of the land contracting team are also important factors affecting the price of onion. Zhang Shoudun’s son Zhang Hao added, “Recently, due to the concentration of group purchases, insufficient supply has caused supply to fall short of demand. To avoid losing money, the price was raised."
Zhang Hao said that due to the epidemic, Zhangqiu scallions are currently only sold domestically, and few are sold abroad. The price of scallions continues to rise, which has also caused fluctuations in the sales of scallions.
Scallion prices will not fall sharply in the short term
In Zhang Shoudun’s view, “because the supply and demand relationship of green onions is still tight, there may be small fluctuations in prices in the short term, but the possibility of a substantial drop is unlikely.” At present, in addition to the impact of weather, the number of farmers growing green onions is also decreasing. One of the factors that cause supply exceeds demand.
A vegetable vendor at a vegetable market in Jinan also bluntly stated that whether the price of autumn and winter vegetables can fall depends on when the new crop will be available.
Most vegetables are not resistant to storage and need to be connected to supply according to different climatic conditions. When new supplies come up, prices can return to normal prices.
The stall owner predicts that winter vegetables will generally be marketed in batches around mid-November. The tight supply of vegetables may be relieved by then, but the overall vegetable price decline will not be too obvious.
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