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Big harvest means lower cabbage prices

By Hao Yan (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2011-04-21 17:23

An abundant harvest for Chinese cabbage dropped prices to 0.08 to 0.16 yuan ($0.01 to 0.02) a kilogram in Qingdao in eastern Shangdong province, 21st Century Business Herald reported Thursday.

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In the Yifeng township of Qingdao, the price of a newly harvested Chinese cabbage stood at 0.8 yuan to 1 yuan in normal years. Farmers last year added more than 10,000 Chinese cabbage greenhouses, the report quoted a buyer agent as saying, resulting in this year‘s larger crop.

Stored Chinese cabbage currently sells for 0.04 yuan a kilogram, the buyer told the newspaper.

Businessman Huang Wei stored 600 tons of Chinese cabbage he purchased for 1.6 yuan a kilogram last fall, expecting a price surge during this year’s Spring Festival. But the price was only 0.3 yuan during the festival. Huang gave his cabbage to the freezer storage owner, rather than pay the high cost of loading and transportation his unwanted produce, the report said.