... and other luxury fads are also perishing

Some precious goods in China once boasted massively high prices due to market frenzy, but now they have suffered huge price drops due to dampened demand.

Clivia

The clivia, which is native to South Africa, is highly appreciated in China just like tulip in the Netherlands. The clivia boasted a price of more than 10,000 yuan ($1,570) or even more than 100,000 yuan for a pot in the 1980s.

Changchun, the capital of Jilin province, in northeastern China, named the clivia as its city emblem in 1984. The local government called for every household to put several potted clivia on their windowsills, and it became a colorful addition to the local landscape.

The popularity of the plant prompted the price to flare. The price once doubled within a few minutes in Changchun. Later, the government had to put a price limit on clivia, and its price plummeted about 100-fold.

Clivia has been a precious flower in China for decades as it used to be cultivated mostly in royal gardens, and it symbolizes virtue and wealth. Clivia blooms once a year, and has a life span of several decades.

Twenty years later, the price of clivia and orchids has proliferated and plunged again in China.

In 2011, a pot of clivia named "oriental pearl" was purchased by a man in his 60s from Jilin province at an auction for 1 million yuan. He hoped to sell the pollen and the buds to make a profit, but a pot of clivia is worth less than 100 yuan now.

Pu'er tea

A 91-kg pu'er tea ball displayed at a fair in Suzhou, Jiangsu province. Wang Jiankang / For China Daily

The taste for high-end tea has been drying up, as prices have been under pressure from the government's austerity drive and anti-graft campaign, in addition to a slowing economy.

Many companies that sell high-end tea, such as Yunnan Taetea Industry Group, a leading Pu'er tea company, are vying to lure more customers by offering lower prices. Taetea has lowered the prices of its most popular products by more than 50 percent from March 2014 to the end of year.

Sales of gift sets and group-purchasing dropped, and the market was expected to be filled by growing demand for mid-range tea products, according to a report from the China Tea Marketing Association.

Many premium tea brands saw constant slides in their prices under State control. A type of the finest Pu'er by Chinese tea brand Dayi, a top-class green tea, saw its price drop from 24,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan per kilogram.

Back to 2006, China started a frenzy of Pu'er amid hot money speculation. Pu'er tea from the Qing dynasty sold at 160,000 yuan for 100 grams. During the ASEAN Expo in 2007, a kilogram of "King of Pu'er" boasted price of over 6 million yuan.

By then, merchants, consumers and connoisseurs were all hoarding Pu'er. However, the price of Pu'er plunged in only half a year, and the industry suffered a heavy loss.

"Earlier the tea market was filled with speculative bubbles, and most Chinese tea products boasted overly high prices," said Wu Jing, editor-in-chief of teatalking.cn, the website of the China National Tea Museum Tea Club.

"Tea prices are going to bounce back to become more rational. Brands need to stand out by utilizing their regional competitive advantages in production and providing tea products that are highly cost-effective."

Rosewood furniture

Rosewood furniture is considered among the priciest and most valuable furniture in China, the largest furniture production, exporting and consumption country in the world.

Rosewood has becomes a carrier of national culture after 600 years of development.

A rosewood set displayed last year boasted a price of over 500 million yuan ($80 million). It featured 22 pieces of furniture that included closets, a desk, a chair and a bed. The rosewood was made from a more than 1,000-year-old tree that weighed approximately four tons, 163.com reported.

Demand of rosewood furniture burgeoned in China in the last decade, and the market was worth over a hundred billion yuan in 2012, according to Greenpeace, an international environmental protection organization.

Yet, the furniture sector saw a dampened growth this year, and rosewood furniture registered a significant price drop of 20 percent to 30 percent, according to the China Rosewood Association.

Nevertheless, the association said the rosewood sector is expected to rebound after the National Day Holiday in October, as market demand has been growing.

zhuwenqian@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily USA 09/16/2015 page15)