If you are a fitness freak then you must be familiar with CELERY and its uses and must be wondering why is celery becoming so expensive day by day. Well to know about the sudden price hikes in celery keep on reading this article.

Sky rocketing Celery prices:

All over the world celery is used differently as it is a low-calorie vegetable and helps to reduce fat. Mostly it is used in daily soups, gravy’s, salads as well as in different types of drinks used for reducing body fat it is also used as garnishing other foods in home and restaurants. It is easily available in almost every food market and store and in some Asian countries, a small amount of celery is given complementary with other vegetables to the customers. Now the question is WHY IS CELERY SO EXPENSIVE RIGHT NOW? For the answer to this question keep on reading.

PRICE Hikes over time:

In  2018 a single bunch of celery was sold for just $1.99 in the local markets but after just 12 -13 months a single bunch was sold for $5.99 until 2020 it was not possible to control the prices and to regulate them as of 2018. The increase in celery prices started in November 2018 and kept on increasing gradually till February of 2019. As per records of statistical data, it is observed that a normal customer paid almost 15.5% more in order to consume fresh vegetables as compared to 2018.

Factors behind price hikes:

The answer to most awaited question“Why is celery so expensive all of a sudden?” lies in following factors.

As per economical and statistical reports and various news, there are two major reasons which answer the question of why is celery so expensive all of a sudden.

  • Unfavorable climatic conditions.
  • Role of social media trends on sales.

1. Unfavorable climatic conditions:

Celery cultivation is not an easy task. In order to grow celery, a suitable environment is required, minor fluctuations in weather can drastically affect the crop.

  • Fluctuating weather conditions: 
    • Celery is cultivated in fertile soil where there is high moisture and a long cool weather period otherwise its yield is lower as per disturbance in any of the factors. In 2019, the weather patterns changed around the globe due to an increase in global warming and many other factors that lead to disturb the ideal environment of celery cultivation and become the major factor in reducing the output of celery crop and created a shortage in markets. As a result of the shortage in supply, prices started to hike up as celery was in high demand by customers.
  • Deadly drought floods & storms:
    • Professor Mike von Massow University of Guelph associate during his interviews shared their views about  “Why is celery so expensive all of a sudden?” was because of the unfavorable climatic conditions due to which shortage was created and that was one of the main reasons in price hikes.
    • In the east deadliest drought was recorded which affected the growth of celery reducing it in size than previous crops. On the other hand, high temperatures, storms, and unusual winds reduced the yield of celery crops in the west. The states which got severely affected by climatic conditions include Ariz, California, Yuma, and Oxnard which were the highest producers of celery crop that was exported to Canada.

2. Role of social media trends on sales:

Social media is one of the major tools for marketers nowadays it can either make or break the reputation of a product or service and is just not limited to that. Let’s see how social media trends played a vital role in affecting the consumption and higher demand for Celery.

  • Social media influencers & impact on-demand:
    • Social media influencers like Anthony William started the trend of celery juice and slowly it speeded up like forest fire. . The magical components of celery include Potassium & Folate and a good amount of vitamins A, K, C.  Many YouTubers and Instagram celebrities like Brightside, More Salt Please, Julia Zumpano and Simnett Nutrition emphasized on the miracles of celery and its regular use could be a great catalyst for burning body fat, maintaining blood sugar levels and reducing weight. 
  • Impact of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter:
    • Many celebrities on these social media platforms adopted the trend of using celery as part of their life in form of drinks, salads, or eating it raw which overall created a huge impact on their followers to do the same and this is how the demand for Celery started to boost up gradually resulting in high sales of celery over the period of time.
  • Are the benefits of celery real or just hype?
    • An Associate Professor at the University of Guelph, Mike Von Massow in one of the interviews expressed that there is no valid proof according to science which explains all the hype about miracles of celery as claimed by social media. On Instagram and Twitter hashtags like #Celery juice benefits and #celery juice heals have been floating more than 68,000 times.  
  • Anthony Williams “Medical medium” 
    • Anthony Williams a famous self-proclaimed medical personality residing in the U.S has a huge number of followers around 2.7 million followers on Instagram. He declared that drinking celery juice on an empty stomach since his childhood daily helps in maintaining fitness. 
    • Hollywood actors like Gwyneth Paltrow, Robert De Niro, Miranda Kerr, Liv Tyler, and Novak Djokovic also followed him claiming several benefits of celery juice on their website along social media feeds. This caused the demand for celery and celery juices to hike up.
    • Social media users and especially followers of such celebrities promoting celery benefits started to post stories on their Instagram and Facebook showing themselves drinking celery juice with hashtag #celeryjuice and #celeryjuicebenefits making it a viral trend. The hashtag #celeryjuice and #celeryjuicebenefits have been used 68,000 times. 
    • A huge number of Nutritionists who model fitness coaches also played a vital role in putting up blogs on it and posting benefits about celery.

California and celery price Hikes:

As per the influence of social media and increased demand for celery, California has also suffered from the “price hikes” yes you read it correctly and it is alarming for California a high producer of celery to face such price hikes now the question still remains Why is celery so expensive in California?  Well, the answer to this question is simple “social media Influence” and obviously some changing climatic conditions. 

  • Organic  & inorganic celery:
    • As per the reports of the US agriculture department, farmers in California usually cultivate around 26-28000 acres of celery crop upon harvesting this crop valued at around $420 Million. The price of celery from California began to hike up some months ago.
    • It used to be $75 per carton for inorganic and $80 per carton for organic celery. The local stalls sold both types of celery organic and inorganic. The price of inorganic celery at local stalls was around $10 and organic celery was sold for around $18 well the credit foes to social media hype which disturbed the supply chain of celery drastically.  
  • Role of fungus strains in High demand:
    • One of the major reasons why is celery so expensive in California. Is the fungus strain named Fusarium race 4 (Panama disease)? Due to high demand celery farmers, cultivated crops in slighter warmer weather which resulted in a mega-disaster, and the crop was highly attacked by Fungus resulting in lower yields.
    • Normally at this time of year celery is imported from Michigan Canada and Mexico. The cultivation period of local celery crop is less and it is planted in mid-summer and harvested from October to November. Due to skyrocketing demand farmers cultivated celery off-season and faced shortage and this explains very well that why is celery so expensive in California. 
  • Impact of Climatic changes in California:
    • Paola Ochoa, program manager for Agtools Inc. expressed that from the previous few weeks, the cultivation of celery crop is divided into different areas of California. This division is done to maintain the balance in crop yields as soon as the weather changes in the South, Central region crops replace the markets and hence the supply is maintained.
    • The celery crop yields of Central California (Salinas, Watsonville, and Santa Maria) are higher in volumes at the start of June and remain constant throughout the year.

  • F.o.b. price in Salinas -Watsonville California celery traditional size 2dz from 1st June-15th July:
    • As per the reports of the US agriculture department, farmers in California usually cultivate around 26-28000 acres of celery crop upon harvesting this crop valued at around $420 Million. The price of celery from California began to hike up some months ago. It used to be $75 per carton for inorganic and $80 per carton for organic celery.
    • The local stalls sold both types of celery organic and inorganic. The price of inorganic celery at local stalls was around $10 and organic celery was sold for around $18 well the credit foes to social media hype which disturbed the supply chain of celery drastically.  
    • From the start of June, F.O.B. prices have fluctuated between $10-$20 which is similar to the price levels of 2018. The skyrocketing prices of June 2019 were due to an increase in demand and decreased supply as the impact of social media influencers who created trends of consuming celery. In 2019, the supply chain of celery was not maintained properly due to changing climatic conditions, increased demand, and the Panama virus as discussed earlier.
  • Price comparison SANTA MARIA VS SALINAS celery from 1st June- July 15th
    • The comparison between F.O.B. prices in  SANTA MARIA VS SALINAS celery consumptions can be observed clearly from the below chart.
    • The high end of the pricing range for a product from Salina-Watsonville has consistently surpassed the high end of the pricing range for a product from Santa María.

Overall Celery yields 2020 YTD(year-to-date). 

California is one of the highest producers of organic and inorganic celery for the United States. In 2020, the region solely yielded around 93.5 percent of the market and consistently supplied over 90 percent of the country’s consumption.

Mexico is the 2nd  largest celery producer after California covering around 6 percent of the US celery consumption. According to USDA(US department of agriculture), Mexico & California produces 99 percent of U.S. celery consumption. 

At the age of 23, Michelle Baker became the youngest lady chef in the United States. Since then, Baker has gone on to win many local awards and, now has 4 Michelin stars to his name.

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