The main reasons for the increased price and the decreased trade volume are as follows:
1. The overall surface area devoted to garlic plantation decreased and traders with stock hold out for better prices. The price of good-quality garlic increases the overall garlic price. More and more visiting traders travel to Jinxiang Garlic Market, and the number of people in the market grows. The actual number of people who trade, however, is still small.
2. Factories where garlic is processed for export have resumed regular operations, but many of them have their own stock. And even though processing factories are operating again, they have not yet reached last year's level.
3. The Jinxiang sliced garlic industry temporarily halted operations on September 29th. They have not yet resumed operations. This severely harms the ability of Jinxiang to absorb the garlic supply volume.
4. Domestic market buyers have resumed regular operations, but their purchases are limited as traders with stock hold out for better prices.
5. The number of visiting traders who speculate in the garlic market has increased, but they are not yet very active. They expect the surface area devoted to garlic plantation to greatly decrease, but since the numbers are not yet clear, they are still hesitant to speculate too much. The overall surface area devoted to garlic plantation in Jinxiang reached 41,333 hectares in 2017. The data for 2018 has not yet appeared. It is difficult to say by how much the overall surface area decreased.
Source: civ.mofcom.gov.cn
