2011-04-25

Energy, regulations driving food costs in China

Officials in quandary on prices of vegetables
But retail prices in many community markets in Beijing, a major consumer of vegetables produced in Shandong, have not fallen accordingly. Wang Wanli , a vendor at the vegetable market in the Tuanjiehu community, said cabbages now sold for 1.6 yuan a kilogram, when during good times they sold for three yuan.

"The purchase price might be lower, but you still need trucks for transport, and rent is always rising," he complained.

Professor Li Guoxiang , of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Rural Development Institute, agreed that high transport costs, which include increasing diesel fuel prices, and rising rent for stalls in markets had offset the wholesale price drops.

"The two ends cry and the middlemen laugh - that's how we describe China's farm produce supply chain today," he said, implying that most of the benefit had gone to traders while growers sold at low prices and consumers paid high prices.
I'm not even sure the middleman is happy with this arrangement.

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