Recently, the spinach from Zhouzhi county has been facing difficulties. Prices have fallen to 1.3 cents per kilogram. The plunge in prices is due to the high prices achieved, up to 1.5 yuan per kilogram, in the winter of 2015. This led to farmers expanding the planting area from 1000 to 3000 acres, but prices in 2016 fell to 40-50 cents per kilo. Some farmers are reluctant to sell and are storing spinach in cellars in the expectation higher prices in 2017.
However, the warmer weather after the Spring Festival, coupled with more spinach from other counties coming to the market, mean that some farmers had to put their spinach on sale at 10 cents per kilo, due to an extremely weak market. At present, to meet production costs, the spinach would need to be sold at 40-50 cents per kilo if losses are to be avoided.
