The wholesale prices of cabbage and hakusai Chinese cabbage in Japan are expected to drop more than 20% than in normal years, according to an October vegetable price forecast announced by the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry on Friday.
The price forecast shows wholesale prices for 14 kinds of vegetables.
Lettuce prices are also likely to remain low throughout the first half of October, while the remaining 11 vegetables, including carrots and spinach, are expected to sell at normal prices.
In Nagano Prefecture, the main production area of hakusai, the growth of the vegetable has been slow due to low rainfall, but a recovery is expected.
The raising of cabbage, which had been stunted due to light rainfall, is also recovering.
Lettuce prices are expected to remain cheaper than in normal years throughout to the first half of this month thanks to strong growth. However their prices are likely to increase to about the same as those in normal years in the latter part of October because shipment volume is expected to decrease in Nagano Prefecture, which is a major production area of the vegetable.
The other 11 kinds of vegetables are likely to be produced at normal levels.
According to daily wholesale prices at Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market in September, cabbage prices were temporarily about 1.9 times higher than in normal years, while hakusai and spinach prices were about 1.5 times higher than those in normal years when their daily wholesale prices hit their peaks.
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