Farmers sort and package lemons at a workshop on November 24, 2020 in Neijiang, Sichuan Province of China.
Huang Zhenghua | Visual China Group | Getty Images
Covid cases in China saw a spike following the country’s rest of strict zero-tolerance rules. What’s also rising are the costs of traditional Chinese medicine and lemons, as Chinese residents scramble for cover from the virus.
Prices of fruits wealthy in vitamin C and antioxidants are seeing surges on account of higher demand.
This month, one food market in Beijing charged 13 yuan ($1.86) for 2 lemons, which is about twice the everyday price.
Other locals have taken to social media platforms reminiscent of Weibo to gripe about lemon inflation, with one user saying she forked out 12 yuan ($1.72) for 3 lemons.
“I didn’t know that lemon prices could triple in someday,” posted one other Weibo user.
At one point, lemons were out of stock in Chengdu on e-commerce platform Dingdong Maicai, in keeping with a local media report.
Canned peaches are seeing a swell in demand. Fresh Hippo, one other e-commerce merchant owned by Alibaba, reported that week-on-week sales of canned yellow peaches popped almost 900%.
A notice is posted at a community health service station in Beijing, China, December 14, 2022, showing that Chinese patent medicines reminiscent of Lianhua Qingwen granules are temporarily out of stock.
CFOTO | Future Publishing | Getty Images
By an analogous token, shares of Chinese pharmaceutical firms involved within the production of traditional Chinese medicine notched their highest levels in a 12 months earlier this month, following a spike in Covid caseloads and endorsements by officials for the herbal remedies.
Shijiazhuang Yiling Pharmaceutical, which produces the favored herbal treatment Lianhua Qingwen, surged 184% in early December from a 12 months earlier.
China Resources Sanjiu Medical & Pharmaceutical similarly saw a greater than 142% spike in the long run of November compared with the identical period last 12 months.
The president of the Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicines, Liu Qingquan, said in a December briefing that traditional Chinese medicine, if taken with Western remedies, “has a superb effect” on stimulating gastrointestinal functions in addition to treating fever and other symptoms linked to the Omicron strain.
Previously few weeks, local and central government authorities in China U-turned from their draconian zero-Covid measures which, amongst other things, had required people to remain home and lots of businesses to operate mostly remotely.
On Monday, China announced that inbound travelers now not must quarantine upon arrival on the mainland starting next 12 months.
– CNBC’s Evelyn Cheng contributed to this report