The market conditions for hot peppers are again flourishing this winter. The price continues to increase and has already broken the record of the last few years. The price of hot peppers shows a steady increase in China's major pepper production areas in Shandong. Zhao Gongying, a data analyst at Sublime China Information (SCI), explained that the price of small peppers in particular showed a significant increase by as much as 50%.
The reason for the price development in 2018 was the drop in production volume of hot peppers. The weather was quite warm when the peppers were growing, and as a result the pepper plants produced less peppers. This reduced the overall production volume, which in turn caused the price to rise. In addition, Jinxiang suffered from excessive rainfall in July with some of the low-lying pepper production areas flooding. This further reduced the pepper production volume in Jinxiang, Shandong.
Data shows that the dried pepper production volume decreased by 30%-40% in comparison with last year. The reduced production volume attracted a number of traders with stock to invest in the pepper industry. The price increase is quite significant, but while the price of domestic dried pepper has been relatively high for some time, next year in February, India will harvest its peppers and their pepper export to China could impact the price of domestic peppers in China.
