This summer, vegetable prices soared across mainland China, causing citizens to struggle to afford vegetables and farmers to miss out on profits. Media outlets attribute the high vegetable prices mainly to excessively high temperatures and abundant rainfall, but external analysis suggests that poor market conditions, tight supply, and inflation are also significant factors.
In the past two months, vegetable prices have skyrocketed in major cities like Beijing and Shenzhen as well as in smaller towns, exceeding prices seen during the Chinese New Year. Prices such as 10 yuan per jin for cucumbers, 6 yuan per piece of tofu, and 8 yuan per jin for green beans have left many netizens exclaiming that they can’t afford to eat anymore.
On September 4, CCTV reported that after nine consecutive weeks of rising vegetable prices since late June, prices began to decline in the last week of August, with a decrease of 0.9% compared to the previous week.
However, the public’s response was skeptical, stating, “Prices have fallen? I haven’t noticed; they are still unreasonably expensive.” “Vegetables, meat, watermelon – all expensive.” “Prices have been continuously rising, making it unsustainable.” “Without buying a house, just buying vegetables makes it impossible to save money.”
A poll initiated by China News Network on September 4, asking “Have you bought vegetables recently? Do you think vegetable prices have become cheaper?” showed that only 8.8% of respondents felt prices had decreased, while 68.5% felt they had not, and 22.7% were unsure.
Photos taken by a netizen in Shandong Province displayed fruit and vegetable prices at local supermarkets, with grapes and bananas priced over 6 yuan per jin, spring onions at 5.28 yuan, ginger at 12.90 yuan, and garlic at 6.28 yuan per jin. The netizen mentioned, “Prices of green onions, ginger, garlic, cucumbers, potatoes, and carrots have increased significantly. There are rumors that vegetables have been exported to Russia.”
A netizen who visited Shenzhen in August reported that vegetable prices in supermarkets were around 5 to 6 yuan per jin, with broccoli and spinach at 6.98 yuan, green beans at 7.98 yuan, and shiitake mushrooms at 12.80 yuan. He noted that as a first-tier city, vegetable prices were indeed high, likely due to overall price increases.
Although vegetable price hikes follow a cyclical pattern, prices reached a 10-year high in the 30th week of this year (July 22 to July 28). Various factors are cited as reasons for the surge in vegetable prices.
Experts in mainland media attribute the increase primarily to weather extremes. High temperatures and heavy rainfall this summer, particularly in provinces like Shandong, Anhui, and Hunan with severe rainstorms and thunderstorms, led to a decrease in vegetable production. Rainfall also affected harvesting and transportation; once market supplies tightened, prices surged significantly.
Agricultural experts highlight the example of cucumbers, which saw a nationwide average wholesale price increase of 153% compared to the previous year. During such times, citizens are more likely to pay attention to the hardships faced by farmers due to natural disasters.
On August 26, intense rain in Shouguang, Shandong, resulted in inundated vegetable greenhouses. The local irrigation relied on deep wells, minimizing the impact of drought on crops but leading to the quick wilting of cucumber seedlings in un-drained greenhouses.
A netizen from Liaoning, “Er Qing You Er,” mentioned, “Many vegetables were flooded due to heavy rain. In my nearby Jianchang County (northwest of Huludao City), many greenhouses were destroyed, but they were not reported; the losses were deemed personal.”
However, some netizens question, “Is it just due to the weather? Why not visit rural areas to see if anyone is actually farming?”
Mr. Li, a villager in Shandong, shared that most local lands are converted into greenhouses, which require high upfront investments. With a three mu (0.5 acres) greenhouse costing around 200,000 to 300,000 yuan and taking two years to recoup, making a profit is challenging. Due to the high costs, many families without suitable conditions for greenhouse farming resort to working elsewhere or renting their land to others.
“There are food and vegetable wholesale markets in the area, but all industries exploit farmers. In previous years, greenhouse farming was profitable, but the market has been unfavorable in recent years. This region no longer produces grains; everything is focused on vegetables and fruits. With so many people in China, can they consume all these products?” Mr. Li questioned.
An anonymous European business practitioner revealed that the root cause lies in foreign support. The sudden tension in European vegetable supply led to a ripple effect, with Chinese vegetables being exported early to Europe to meet stringent EU standards via expedited channels like China Railway Express, enabling Henan and Shandong, two major vegetable production hubs, to ship batches of compliant vegetables 30 days ahead.
David, a mainland scholar long focused on agricultural issues, analyzed during an interview that since the trade war era of Trump, China’s economy has begun to crumble. Real estate sales halted, followed by restrictions on foreign trade, leaving the foundation of these two major revenue sources unstable. To sustain internal spending without decreases, the government resorts to printing money. The inflation driving price hikes is essentially due to clandestine monetary expansion, specifically affecting food and vegetable prices.
Moreover, the support to Russia by the Chinese Communist Party, extending from ammunition to troops and daily essentials, including vegetables, led to relatively tighter domestic supplies. Amid these factors, prices naturally increased.
He emphasized, “In reality, experts understand that the majority of people lack finances. Despite this, the system continues to squeeze them, as not doing so would lead to its own demise. Unable to push for real estate purchases, and with people either too cash-strapped or too cautious to buy, attention is redirected towards their daily meals.”
“Internal authorities require wage and incentive growth annually, even as provincial tax revenues dwindle; thus, they resort to printing money. Overall, prices continue silently rising, not solely for vegetables but also for food items, water, electricity, and gas, with vegetable prices most notably visible.”
Notably, although vegetable prices rise, farmers are not the primary beneficiaries. As netizen “Da Shi Fa Ze” put it, “Farmers end up losing even when considering the labor costs; it’s the middlemen who profit. The agricultural wholesale market is where these middlemen operate, each controlling 1-2 categories of vegetables, granting them immense price-setting power. When faced with weather changes or major events, they promptly raise prices, leaving no choice for downstream purchasers.”
David believes that autumn is typically a time of abundant vegetable harvests, making shortages unlikely. While it may seem that vegetable prices increase, farmers don’t actually benefit significantly. They remain part of the consumption chain, needing to purchase not only vegetables but also other essentials, resulting in higher expenses without an improvement in living standards.
“We are all victims; the biggest beneficiaries are still those within the system, namely the Communist Party. In truth, even it stands at a dead end,” he concluded.