puerh prices doubling in a year?
i did a little bit of research and noticed a few puerhs whose prices doubled in just a year..is this normal??!?
If you mean a specific tea getting more expensive as it gets older, that is the standard. As a tea gets older it becomes worth more, at least in theory. If you are saying puerh prices rising generally I don’t know.
Some special productions always rise. Doubling is the far end of it sometimes. I can see special edition cakes increasing but regular stuff always goes up a bit year to year.
The current market trend is a 15% increase yearly, but it strongly depends on who you’re getting it from. :-)
does it ever go down? like when the tea doesnt turn out too good or when the market doesnt buy that tea at the new high price point so much anymore?
It can. I haven’t seen many western brands mark down their pu’erh.
Stuff that’s in high volume that’s being speculated on and not being consumed, you’ll see go up and down. Notably in 2007, there was a big bust in the pu’erh market.
It’s not really worth worrying about if you’re just starting out.
Essentially, when a puerh price goes up each year, you’re paying for time spent in storage. Some sellers mark up regardless of wether the tea is actually in proper storage, in which case the tea might actually taste WORSE each year. Unless you’re suuuuper into investing in puerh and rather just enjoy it as a simple pleasure, jschergen is right — not really worth worrying about.
Just know that when you find a puerh you really like, you should buy it sooner than later because it’s pretty much guaranteed to sell out or increase in price.
Prices actually went down this year for low and mid tiers. The drought of the last two years wasn’t as bad this year, and unusual rains in April led to more water in the tea. Yunnan actually has tons and tons of plantation tea. What goes up in price is the better tier teas because the old trees only produce a limited amount, and demand for the old and wild tree teas just keeps rising. Such as Gushu from hot regions like Lao Banzhang or Yiwu. More people every year want the high end and this tea doesn’t increase.
But otherwise, lots of tonnage exists for plantation teas at reasonable prices. Other factors into prices include the cost of doing business, shipping, marketing. I’m seeing mid-tiers at lower prices this year, more than anything else. The low end is still low, the high end is still high, but the middle crept down a bit.
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