Official discusses vegetable price rise

The average wholesale price of vegetables in Beijing has soared by 39.8 percent month-on-month between Oct 1 and 25 due to multiple reasons, a senior official of the capital's commerce bureau said on Tuesday. 

"The wholesale supply of vegetables has been falling recently," Wang Hongcun, an official with the Beijing Municipal Commerce Bureau, said at a news conference on Tuesday afternoon. 

He added that Beijing also has a variety of import channels of vegetables, which can ensure a stable supply for the residents. 

According to the bureau, the seven major produce wholesale markets in Beijing supplied 22,000 metric tons of vegetables daily from Oct 1 to 20, which is relatively stable.

"However, it's predictable that vegetable prices will face more challenges in the near future because of the logistics costs for importing vegetables from southern China in winter and energy price rises in the north," he said. "Along with the recent epidemic, which might cause some uncertainty in logistics and the coming New Year's Day holiday, the high price of vegetables will continue for a foreseen period."

Since August, Henan, Shandong, Hebei, Shanxi and other places have suffered heavy rain and floods. Among them, Shandong, Henan and Hebei are the main vegetable production areas in China.