Vegetable prices have increased substantially in most cities, following bad weather in many parts of China since November last year, latest statistics from the Ministry of Commerce showed.

Wholesale prices of 18 kinds of vegetables have risen continuously in the country for three weeks since the middle of last month, according to ministry figures.

The average price of vegetables from April 26 to May 2 was 3.84 yuan (56 cents) a kg, up by 44.4 percent year on year.

"The current increase in vegetable prices is mainly caused by short supply following the catastrophic weather," Zhu Xiaoliang, deputy director of the market operation regulation of the Ministry of Commerce, told Xinhua News Agency.

In Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, the retail prices of 15 out of 77 kinds of vegetables being tracked by the industry doubled in months. Garlic and mung beans were among the few products that saw the highest price increases, The Southern Rural News reported on Sunday.

"I bought garlic for 19 yuan a kg, but the price of pork was only 13.96 yuan a kg. It's unusual," an unnamed customer in a local supermarket in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province, was quoted as saying.

Zhou Yan, a 48-year-old greengrocer in a Zhengzhou food market, said garlic has never been so valuable.

"The wholesale price of a sack of garlic, about 20 kg, was 2 to 3 yuan during the same period in 2008. But the price has risen to 200 yuan a sack now," he was quoted as saying.

Vegetable prices increased last November as sleet and snow hit parts of the country. Low temperatures and drought in the first few months of the year slowed vegetable growth and caused the prices to remain high, figures from the Ministry of Agriculture showed.

The rise in production costs, including seed and pesticide, also caused vegetable prices to rise sharply this year, said Shao Na, an analyst with the China Commerce Circulation Productivity Promotion Center.

But a number of industry players said hoarding and profiteering by some businessmen also fueled the price hikes.

"The price hike in garlic was mainly caused by hoarding and profiteering," said Yang Guoqing, general manager from a local farm products company in Guangzhou.

"A businessman from northeast China wanted to stock up on large amounts of garlic with me in advance last year. I refused since I felt it was very risky, but he still earned more than 1 million yuan this year," he said.

Short supply fueled the rise in prices of fresh vegetables, which cannot be preserved for a long period, but business tactics still caused most of the high prices, Yang said.

"As temperatures rise this month, more vegetables, especially green leafy varieties, will appear on the market. The prices are expected to drop when supply becomes sufficient," analyst Shao Na said.

(China Daily May 10, 2010)