Locally-grown garlic price still rises due to low supply of Chinese garlic

Despite the availability of newly harvested garlic, garlic prices have been still on the rise due to low supply from China, according to garlic wholesale centres.
Due to transportat difficulty, the supply of China-imported garlic has been low, and the demand for locally-grown garlic has been climbing up, which is why the price has been reasonable, said wholesalers.
“Now, old garlic has been out of stock. That is the new harvesting season, but the price has been still on the rise as the crop has been rare because the supply of China-imported garlic has been low due to transport difficulty. The demand for locally-grown garlic has been high, and the price has been good despite the newly harvested crops. The price of China-imported garlic is from K8,000-K9,000 to K10,000 per viss,” said an official from the Monywa garlic trading centre. In the second week of February, the price of locally-grown garlic per viss dropped below K10,000 but rose again to K12,000-K13,000 due to high demand.
“The price dropped to around K8,000-K9,000 a viss on 10 February just for a day, but promptly climbed up again on the next day due to high demand,” he said. In the previous year, the garlic price stayed at the regular price of around K5,000 per viss, he said. — MT/ZS/ED