Recently, the supply of garlic has exceeded the demand, and the price in some producing areas has fallen below the lowest level in a decade

According to chinanews.com, in the past six months, garlic prices in China have fallen sharply, and garlic prices in some producing areas once fell below the lowest point in ten years.
At the regular press conference held by the Ministry of agriculture and rural areas on July 17, Tang Ke, director of the market and Economic Information Department of the Ministry of agriculture and rural areas, said that from the perspective of the average wholesale price of garlic in the first half of the year, the year-on-year decline was 55.5%, more than 20% lower than the average price in the same period of recent 10 years, and the garlic price in some producing areas once fell below the lowest point in the past decade.
Tang Ke pointed out that the downward trend of garlic prices began in 2017. Since the new garlic season began in May 2017, the market price has fallen rapidly, and then the sales price of cold storage garlic has continued to operate at a low level. After the listing of fresh garlic and early maturing garlic in 2018, the price has continued to fall. In June, the national average wholesale price of garlic was 4.23 yuan per kilogram, down 9.2% month on month and 36.9% year-on-year.
“The main reason for the low garlic price is that supply exceeds demand.” Tang Ke said that affected by the garlic bull market in 2016, the garlic planting area in China continued to grow in 2017 and 2018, with an increase of 20.8% and 8.0% respectively. The garlic planting area reached a new high, especially in some small production areas around the main production areas; This spring, the overall temperature in the main garlic producing areas is high, the light is normal, the moisture content is appropriate, and the unit yield remains at a high level; In addition, the stock surplus of garlic in 2017 was high, and the annual storage volume of cold storage garlic in Shandong increased significantly in 2017. After the listing of new garlic this year, there was still a lot of stock surplus, and the market supply was abundant.
Looking forward to the future, Tang Ke said that considering the output and inventory of this year, the downward pressure on garlic prices will still be large in the coming months. The Ministry of agriculture and rural areas will strengthen the monitoring, early warning and release of production and marketing and price information, and reasonably arrange the production plan for the new garlic season this autumn.