A mainland online media pointed out that recent meat prices rose across the board, with pork prices jumping 27.1% in three months. In addition, corn, eggs, wheat, barley and rice also rose sharply. In particular, corn rose the most, in Shandong, each ton of corn exceeded 2,700 yuan (the same below) mark, up to 1.39 yuan per pound, approaching the historical record of 1.4 yuan.
Back in late October last year, pork prices were about 21 yuan per catty during early November. Two months later, pork prices, however, soared significantly by nearly 30%. In addition, the price of lamb also rose sharply, as of the fourth week of December last year, the wholesale price of lamb has risen to 83 yuan per kilogram, the market retail price has exceeded 100 yuan per kilogram, cooked lamb is more than 140 yuan per kilogram. The rise in pigs and sheep has also driven up beef, eggs and chicken.
Guangzhou resident Zhang Deli said in an interview with Radio Free Asia on Monday (4) that he went downstairs to a relatively cheap small supermarket to see the price of pork: “There is a small supermarket downstairs in my house, I just went to see, the price of pork and pork bones are 69 yuan a catty, beef is 62 yuan a catty, you see the price of a small supermarket to know that prices are now What kind of level.”
All things are expensive and people’s lives are getting worse
Beijing resident Liu Qin told the station that there is no food that does not increase in price, and people’s lives are getting worse: “The price of beef has also increased. Vegetables have also gone up, now there are no two yuan a catty of vegetables. Cabbage rose more than a yuan (2.5 yuan a catty), the people are now worse off. First, there is no work, the second prices are still rising. It’s all because of the epidemic. Everything has gone up in price, and we don’t know when the epidemic will stop.”
Faced with the loss of jobs in the wake of the Xin Guan (Chinese Communist virus) epidemic, prices are rising rather than falling. Guo Li, a Beijing resident, told the station that meat prices are expensive enough to reduce meat consumption, but many people are experiencing a bigger problem: “Many people are now experiencing a decrease in their income because of the epidemic, as well as people who have been laid off from their jobs around the world, companies are tightening their spending, laying off employees, and so on, which means that these expenses just mentioned are reduced accordingly, and their standard of living has gone down. “
Monthly salary from tens of thousands of dollars down to thousands of dollars
Guo Li said, for example, many past monthly salary of about 30,000 employees, now only three, five thousand dollars: “For example, the original monthly salary of tens of thousands of dollars, now only earn two, three thousand dollars. There are several office workers, their income are from the original 10,000, 20,000 yuan, 30,000, 40,000 yuan, down to three, five, five, six thousand dollars, some one or two thousand dollars (monthly salary), and some even dismissed. Under this pressure, everything feels expensive.”
Pictured, the price marked on a pork counter in a supermarket in Hangzhou on May 12, 2020.
As for why pork prices are rising, the main reason is the lack of meat in the market, with China consuming more than 54.03 million tons of pork in 2018, with 700 million head of slaughter, accounting for 50% of the world. Last year, however, after the outbreak of African swine fever, the annual slaughter of pigs was 540 million head, and pork production plummeted by 13 million tons.
Reduced income inhibits spending power
Huang Xiaomin, a rights activist in Chengdu, said in an interview with the station that local prices are not too high, but the underlying problem is serious: “People are shying away from buying and the desire to buy has dropped significantly. This situation may have something to do with the decrease in income in 2020, the expectation of the future market and the lack of confidence in personal income, for sure.”
Huang Xiaomin said that many people are currently living with the mentality of saving money when they can, i.e. “saving money when they can, and not paying attention when they can.”
Tongliao City, Inner Mongolia herdsman Buren Bayar told the station that local crops to mutton are increasing in price: “Now the price is going up, we have rice this year, last year more than 70 cents a catty, this year a yuan more than 10 cents a catty, cattle and sheep before (a) seven, eight yuan a, now 10 to 10 yuan, is the whole. A hundred pounds of sheep two thousand yuan, cattle good more than 30,000 a head.”
Recent Comments