The prices of Chinese cabbage are constantly under pressure.

At the beginning of the current month, the average selling price of packaged Chinese cabbage in large-scale wholesale remained higher than in previous seasons. This was despite a dynamic trend that pushed down the prices of "pekiny" by 64 percent between mid-August and mid-October. Maintaining an advantage over previous years was made possible by better demand in the second half of October, strengthening transactional prices.

But that's in the past. The second week of the current month brought another activation of the downward price trend for "pekinka" in the Polish wholesale market. Currently, selling prices range from 2.00 to 2.80 PLN/kg, with continuous pressure for a decrease, or at least resistance to an increase. In small-scale wholesale, Chinese cabbage briefly became more expensive during the long holiday weekend due to lower supply at exchanges. However, the situation was different in large-scale wholesale. As seen in the chart below, the consequence of recent declines is that the current average price has dropped below that of November 2021 by one-fifth, and compared to the price from a year ago, it is only higher by 5 groszy, which is 2 percent.

Is there a chance for a change in this situation and an effective breakthrough for Chinese cabbage against this downward pressure? It seems possible because the overall supply of "pekiny" remains low. However, it also requires a demand-side impulse in the market. Lately, there hasn't been much interest from buyers in the large-scale wholesale. The question is when such an impulse might come. History from previous 'expensive' seasons shows that it is most likely to occur in January or, with very favorable conditions, in December.