Inflation in China is driving food prices sharply upward, with weekly price increases in October, and motivating consumers to start hoarding.
CNBC reports that a basket of 30 vegetables cost 6.6% more in the last week of October than in the week prior. Pork was up 10.6%, and eggs up 6.4%, in that period.
The situation has led Chinese authorities to urge consumers to stockpile “daily necessities” like poultry, vegetables and cooking oil. This in turn has led to long lines of shoppers and empty shelves at supermarkets.
Several factors are constricting the food supply in China, including: Newly imposed COVID-related lockdowns and restrictions on travel, which make it harder to transport goods across regions; cutbacks on the use of coal, which makes less power available for greenhouses and vertical farms; and severe weather that has damaged crops.
