Some vegetables will cost more in Japan in October

Japan's Ministry^*1 of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said on September 30 that some vegetables will cost more than usual in October. The ministry is the part of the Japanese government that looks after farming and food. Every month, it looks at the vegetables that farmers send to the big wholesale market^*2 in Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Then it reports how the vegetables are growing and what their prices will probably be.

In October, Chinese cabbage^*3, lettuce, broccoli^*4, cucumbers, eggplants^*5, tomatoes and green peppers will probably cost more than in a normal year. Potatoes and onions will probably cost less. Daikon^*6, carrots, green onions and taro^*7 will cost about the same as usual.

Lettuce is a good example. A lot of lettuce comes from Nagano and Gunma, two areas of Japan. In September, it rained there for many days, and there was not much sunshine. So the lettuce did not grow well, and farmers could not use all of it. In October, they will send less lettuce to the market than usual, and the price will stay higher than in a normal year.

Cabbage will cost about the same as usual in the first half of October. In the second half, less cabbage will come to the market, so the price will be a little higher than usual.

Potatoes and onions are different. Potatoes and onions from Hokkaido, a large island in the north of Japan, are growing well, and many of them are big. So farmers there will send more of them to the market than in a normal year, and the prices will be lower.

1. *1 Ministry: a part of a country's government that looks after one thing, like farming or health
2. *2 wholesale market: a big market where shops and restaurants buy food in large amounts
3. *3 Chinese cabbage: a long, light green vegetable with soft leaves, often used in soups
4. *4 broccoli: a dark green vegetable that looks like a small tree
5. *5 eggplants: long, dark purple vegetables
6. *6 Daikon: a long, white Japanese radish
7. *7 taro: a small, round root vegetable that people eat cooked