The strongest plum rain Taiwan ever witnessed destroyed a wide variety of crops, leading to a national vegetable price uptick average of 30 percent, but the Greater Taipei region reported prices soaring more than 50 percent for certain greens.
Consecutive days of torrential rain damaged most crops in central and southern Taiwan, causing the average wholesale price for vegetables to soar 52 percent from NT$25.53 (US$0.85) per kilogram to NT$35.9 on Sunday.
Leafy green vegetables reported the steepest wholesale price hike, prices of Taiwan sword leaf lettuce or known as "A tsai" quadrupled from NT$20 to NT$50 per kilogram, while bok choy prices increased 2.8 times from NT$16 to NT$50 per kilogram, said Kou Jung-Jui, sales manager of New Taipei City Fruit and Vegetable Marketing Co.
Napa cabbage prices also soared from NT$10.1 to NT$23.1, while cucumber prices rose more than 80 percent as of Sunday. Overall the average fruit wholesale price declined, but a couple of fruits reported skyrocketing prices, such as banana wholesale prices jumping from NT$10 to an upper price of NT$80 per kilogram.
Total crop losses reached an estimated NT$57.52 million as of Sunday night, with Yunlin County being the most affected, recording a loss of NT$24.21 million.
