Life of Guangzhou - Real Estate Speculators Turn to Orchids

As the housing market starts cooling down, real estate speculators, mainly from other provinces outside Guangdong have turned their focus to orchids. At present, the prices of some rare orchids have risen and even doubled. Normal species raised by citizens are also getting steadily more expensive.

Recently in the monthly auctions held by Guangdong orchid fans, quite a few new faces have been noticed. It is easily recognizable that they are from other provinces in China. They are united and help each other at the auctions.

At an auction held in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, in the second half of the year, several people from Wenzhou, a city notorious for speculation in Zhejiang province, bought over 1 million yuan worth of orchids; while at another auction held in Dongguan, Guangdong, some people from Fujian province spent around 1.2 million yuan in total.

An expert, Mr. Li said, the orchid market is a bit similar to the stock market. With a large amount of orchids of the same species in hand, the holders can manipulate the market. So orchids are called “green stock”.

A speculator who has invested in the housing market for about 10 year said that, he had mortgaged his apartments and invested the capital in orchids. In less than a year, he has gained a few returns.

According to experts, the prices of orchids next spring are expected to rise by 20 — 30% over previous years. Each pot of orchids may cost between 100 to 180 yuan. The price of the orchid called “Great Wall Peony” has risen to 600 yuan, far above than the 100 yuan at the beginning of this year.

The market price of this "Great Wall Peony" rises to over 10,000 yuan. (By Liang Jiajian)

Another contribution to the rising prices of orchids is the rising demands in western countries. Nearly 10 million orchids are exported to developed countries but still, it is far from sufficient. The renting fee of each pot of orchids has reached AUD15 per day, in Australia.

Because of the rising trend in the orchid market, some dishonest sellers play tricks on consumers using fake orchids.

One orchid fan, Ye Hanqing said that, because of speculation, wild orchids have been destroyed and now it is hard to find any wild orchids, except in some remote areas that are difficult to get to.

Ye said that, the formerly abundant resource of wild orchids in Conghua, Panyu districts in Guangzhou have almost died out.

[By Chen Wenli and Alan Devey]

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