Consumers shocked by vegetable prices

CNS (Beijing) -- Warmer weather in May usually means an abundant supply of vegetables and lower prices, yet food shoppers in the capital have recently been shocked by high prices instead.

At a Beijing market on Wednesday, a CNS reporter found cabbages selling for 3 yuan per kg. According to the greengrocer, one cabbage usually weighs from 3 to 5 kg, so they are now selling for 9 to 15 yuan, which is almost equivalent to 0.5 kg of pork.

Some consumers at the market complained they could hardly afford such high-priced greens.

According to the national price monitoring system, on May 2 the prices of cabbage, white radish, tomatoes and carrots all experienced year-one-year hikes of 96.6 percent, 75.7 percent, 49.2 percent and 26.7 percent respectively.

Experts attribute the high prices to a shortage of farmers growing cabbages and other vegetables this year, as well petrol price hikes.