Aubergine prices have been going up and down like a roller coaster in the past year and they have gonein two opposite directions in the north and in the south.
Aubergines on the southern market mainly comes from Shandong andHainan provinces. Because of this year'sextraordinary weather conditions, there was a decrease inproduction, and so the prices have gone up.
A very different story is happening on theBeijing market. Prices of long and round aubergine varietieshave recently been similar to other vegetables, yet they do not sellwell. During the same period last year, there was a long period oflow temperatures and little sunlight onnorthern farms which largely affected vegetablesthat were grown in greenhouses. As a result, much of theproduction of round aubergines experienced problems withrotting seedlings and roots, and so therewas a large decrease in production, which resulted in a steepincrease in prices - the highest inrecent years. The rise in prices from last year made the farmersincrease the area where they plant round aubergines and in theend resulted in prices falling this year.