Spaghetti squash recently sold very well. One trader explained that a number of vegetable greenhouses in Shouguang, Shandong, were destroyed in a flood in August last year. This natural disaster affected long-term development of vegetables in the area, including spaghetti squash.
Shandong spaghetti squash only entered the Beijing market in November. The spaghetti squash on the market in Beijing in August came from Inner Mongolia. Their supply season lasts until November, and many traders worried that the supply from Shouguang would be delayed because of the flood, which would result in a temporary supply shortage. They therefore began to purchase large volumes of spaghetti squash from Inner Mongolia and kept them in storage for the anticipated supply shortage. The price of spaghetti squash in Inner Mongolia rapidly increased as a result of the natural disaster in Shouguang.
As it turned out, the spaghetti squash production in Shouguang was not nearly as severe as people expected it to be. Some squash was not affected at all, some could be recovered, and some could be replaced. As the price of spaghetti squash began to rise in the last week of August, some traders realized that the volume of squash purchased from Inner Mongolia and kept in storage was too large, and that the natural disaster in Shandong was less severe than expected. The price then began to fall back to regular levels. Spaghetti squash from Shandong entered the market in November, and because of rumors of reduced production, their price also increased.
When market supply rapidly increased, the price quickly began to fall. Furthermore, farmers in Hainan noticed the high spaghetti squash price in August when Shouguang suffered from flooding, and quickly changed their crops to grow spaghetti squash. They even expanded their farms. At the end of December, when the spaghetti squash from Shandong was still in the market, Hainan farmers began to bring their spaghetti squash to the market as well. Market supply greatly exceeded demand, and the purchase price in production areas reached one low point after the other.
