LEX 
A lot of things in China carry a whiff of excess. The cost of garlic is among them: wholesale prices have almost quadrupled from March. A halving of the planting area last year and belief in the bulb’s powers to ward off swine flu provide some justification for the surge. But anecdotes of unbridled trading activity in Jinxiang county suggest that the most likely cause is the most obvious – the abundant liquidity swilling through the system. New loans in China may top Rmb10,000bn this year, double the run-rate of the preceding years; 2010 should bring another Rmb7,000bn-Rmb8,000bn.
