Taiwan’s Agriculture and Food Agency has said it will increase the supply of vegetables this week to wholesale markets in order stabilize prices in the countdown to Lunar New Year’s Day amid speculation of price hikes.
The agency’s Deputy Director-General Yao Chih-wang (???) said that while fruit and vegetable wholesale markets will be off on Monday, fruit and vegetable trading will peak in the three days from Jan. 17-19 before the 10-day Lunar New Year holiday begins on Jan. 20.
To meet the expected increase in demand, the vegetable supply to Taipei fruit and vegetable wholesale markets will be raised from Sunday’s 1,672 tonnes to possibly more than 2,000 tonnes before the start of the holiday, Yao said, attributing the move as an attempt to stabilize prices.
The average price of vegetables traded at Taipei fruit and vegetable wholesale markets stood at NT$35.2 (US$1.16) per kilogram on Jan. 10, the first market day of the week, and dropped to NT$30.1 per kg on Sunday, representing a 14.5-percent price drop, according to data on the agency’s official website.
On Sunday, the average price of leafy vegetables was NT$19.9 per kg in Taipei, down by NT$7.1 or 26.5 percent from the average price of NT$27 per kg recorded on Jan. 10, the data indicated, while the price for the benchmark vegetable cabbage fell from NT$19.9 per kg to NT15.3 per kg, marking a 22.8-percent decline.
Asked about the price fall, several vendors at Taipei wet markets confirmed to CNA that there had been a decline in prices over the past few days. However, they also expected prices to rebound in the last week of the Year of the Tiger on the Chinese lunar calendar.
At several wet markets in the capital on Sunday, the price for cabbages was NT$29 per catty (one catty is equivalent to 600 grams), down from NT$33 per catty on Jan. 10.
Based on the average 1.5 kg weight per cabbage, each cabbage was sold for around NT$72 at retail markets on Sunday, down from NT$85 five day earlier.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel