Food prices in China have soared amid a food supply squeeze as the year comes to an end. Spices, ginger, pork and white wine are among items whose costs have increased significantly. Compared to April, the price of scallions has jumped by 333%. Economic scholars attributed the price hike to a surge in demand as the pandemic slows.

Chinese media outlets reported that ginger at the Dayang Road agricultural products market in Beijing is now priced at 16 yuan (US$2.44) per kilogram, a double of that in May; while in cities in Guangdong, prices of ginger have surpassed 20 yuan per kilogram.

Scallions produced in Shandong registered a 1,718% year-on-year jump in price, reaching 2 yuan per gram, according to the food index provided by Zhuochuang Information.

Prices of pork in China have fluctuated in recent years due to the African swine fever in 2018, reaching a record price of 59.6 per kilogram in February. Despite being back to normal by September, it has been on an upward trajectory over the past two weeks, increasing by 7.1%.

Analysts attribute the growing food prices to different factors, including a reduction in agricultural production and a growing demand for pork due to the custom of making preserved meat for the winter.

Apart from key food items, the prices of white wine have been adjusted for nearly ten times since mid-November, increasing by 30 to 110 yuan each time.

White wine expert Wan Song attributed the price adjustment to the growing cost of raw ingredients for white wine and technical processing, as well as a need to increase profit margin to compensate for slowing sales during the COVID-19 epidemic.

Yuen Chang from the Hong Kong Imported Vegetable Wholesale Merchants Association admitted that cooking essentials such as onion, ginger and garlic has become far more expensive in recent months. “But these seasonings are necessary in restaurants and households,” he said. Due to the pandemic, supplies from the Philippines and Indonesia are insufficient to make up for the demand.

Hui Wai-kin, president of Pork Traders General Association of Hong Kong, said it is normal for demand to grow at the end of the year in China and it has limited impact on Hong Kong, where the supply of fresh pork takes up no more than 30% of the market.

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