The vegetable market enters "Spring Festival mode" as Chinese Spring Festival [February 5th, 2019] approaches. Most vegetable prices show an upward trend. This development is most obvious in out-of-season vegetables. The price of kidney beans, for example, increased by 40%.
One vegetable trader explained that the consumption volume of vegetables greatly increases in the period leading up to Spring Festival. The vegetable market therefore enters the "Spring Festival mode" and prices increase. The vegetable prices are usually highest on the second-last and third-last day of the lunar calendar [February 2 and 3, 2019].
The main reason for the price increase is growing demand during the festival period, but an additional reason is that this is the coldest time of the year and the weather slows down vegetable production. Furthermore, many of the people involved in transport and wholesale of vegetables are out-of-town workers who return to their families during Spring Festival. This slows down the work and props up the labor cost, which results in higher retail prices.
