Shifts in Vegetable Supply and Demand from 2010–2019 to the 2020–2021 COVID-19 Period at the Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market

Abstract

The COVID epidemic affected Japan in 2020 and 2021. Here, I analyzed how vegetable supply and demand in this period differed from that in the previous 10 years to 2019. Of the vegetables shipped to the Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market, 144 vegetables are analyzed monthly, and the shifts in demand, supply, and prices of 1657 items are confirmed. The results showed that the patterns of shift in supply and demand of vegetables differed by item and month and were very diverse. However, the overall trend was that demand and supply were declining, and that tendency became even stronger during the COVID epidemic in the last 2 years of the analysis. Demand for major vegetables, the supply of which the government is trying to stabilize, increased slightly during the epidemic, because these vegetables were likely to have remained in high demand in people’s homes. In contrast, the demand for items with a large import ratio and savory herbs and garnishes declined, because these items were likely to have been in high demand for processing or by restaurants, and these industries declined during COVID-19. Seasonally, there were many items for which the demand declined from spring to summer. Despite this decline in demand, for many items the prices did not decrease markedly. This price maintenance was due to reduced supply, which likely led to a degree of economic damage to suppliers.