Retail vegetable prices soar sharply on typhoon winds

Traditional retail markets were swarmed with people eager to buy vegetables and daily necessities, forcing them to line up to settle payments for the highly priced vegetables. The price of leeks yesterday shot up to NT$100 per catty from NT$45 seen in the preceding day. Dealers attributed the whopping rise of leek prices to the serious supply shortage caused by the highway leading to the production fields in the eastern county of Hualien, which has been blocked due to the typhoon.

Meanwhile, spinach was retailed at NT$120 per catty, cabbage NT$85, and water convolvulus NT$55, all over 50 percent higher than usual.

According to statistics released by the Taipei Agricultural Products Transportation Co., the average wholesale vegetable price yesterday reached NT$38.6 per kilogram in Taipei, NT$32.5 in Kaohsiung and NT$30.7 in Taichung, respectively, almost double the corresponding figures of a year earlier.

A company spokesman said that up to 90 percent of the vegetable production fields in central and southern Taiwan were damaged by typhoons in August and September, and it usually takes up to three months for new vegetables to grow. As a result, after the autumn comes, vegetable prices have almost doubled from last year, the spokesman explained.

The spokesman said Typhoon Krosa has seriously lashed the eastern counties of Yilan and Hualien, and therefore the wholesale prices for scullion mainly planted in Yilan and leeks grown in Hualien would surely surge to new highs of more than NT$200 per kilogram, because the growth period for both vegetables is longer than other vegetables.

On another front, various hypermarts were crowded with consumers seeking to “hoard up” some daily necessities during the typhoon days. The buying sentiment was further fueled by the discount campaigns launched by hypermarts to celebrate their founding anniversaries or the upcoming Double Ten National Day.

RT-Mart and Geant both launched a vegetable sales campaign by offering bundles of “composite” vegetables for NT$6 each, creating a strong buying spree among consumers and making the two hypermarts busy in replenishing the vegetable supply.

Consumers also rushed to “store” instant noodle packs, as 34 brands of instant noodles are scheduled to see a price hike, starting Oct. 9.

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