China's clampdown on equity trading has prompted speculators to bet on commodities instead, sayEmiko Terazono and Lucy Hornby in the FT. Take the bubble in the garlic market.
The wholesale price in China, which accounts for more than 80% of the world's garlic exports, has risen since 2015 as heavy rains damaged the crops planted for the 2016 harvest. People began to hoard garlic, while speculators have now piled in, propelling prices to multi-year highs.
Mung beans and pickled walnuts are other niche markets to have "fallen to the vagaries of hot money'".
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Viewpoint
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