New garlic from Yunnan province in the South of China has arrived on the market in the beginning of April. Usually, this leads to a drop in garlic prices. This year, however, garlic prices keep on going up.
At the beginning of this week, garlic on local wholesale markets near Beijing, was sold for as much as 13 Yuan (equal to 2 euros) per kilogram. To compare, last year prices hoovered around 5 Yuan per kilogram.
In 2015, garlic yields were cut by 10%. In addition, bad weather in early Spring fueled speculation about the yield of the new crop. As a result, traders and growers started to stock garlic.
From now on, more garlic from Yunnan, and later also from Northern provinces, will start entering the market. Garlic prices are expected to come down eventually, however, it is unclear when this will start happening.
