Pricey garlic is hitting the market while many vegetables, particularly those not grown locally, saw prices increase after unfavorable weather, particularly unusually high rainfall last month.
But prices of green vegetables grown in the city suburban areas have returned to more normal levels in the past few days as local weather is getting better. Meanwhile, the city's agricultural commission has organized more farms to grow green vegetables to expand supply.
"Local supply of vegetables such as cucumbers and green peppers are mainly counted on other provinces like Shandong," said Gu Zhiping, manager of the vegetable department of the Shanghai Agricultural Products Central Wholesale Market.
The wholesale market is one of the biggest of its kind in Shanghai.
The retail price of garlic has rocketed to more than 26 yuan ($3.8) per kilogram in the city while wholesale price is 14-16 yuan, Gu said.
The Shanghai Morning Post has also quoted an unidentified wholesale merchant as saying that low production due to bad weather this year had driven up prices as major garlic producing provinces including Shandong and Hebei had suffered excessive rains during the garlic growing season.
The paper said garlic production had fallen 20 percent compared with last year.
