June 1 2011, 09:36 Fruit-Inform

There are no and can be no Spanish cucumbers currently in Ukraine

Mass hysteria recently risen in Ukrainian mass-media over Spanish and German cucumbers allegedly infected with E. coli caused, as it often happens, a huge number of nonsensical rumors and statements.

“First of all, I would like to say that there are NO SPANISH CUCUMBERS currently IN UKRAINE”, Andriy Yarmak, Head of Fruit-Inform Project, states. “Any specialist knowing fruit and vegetable trade specifics can say that Ukraine usually imports no cucumbers in late May. In other words, Ukraine is not importing any cucumbers at all now as internal prices for this produce decrease to the level that transportation and customs clearance costs are more expensive than Spain's cucumbers themselves. At the same time, Ukraine is even actively exporting cucumbers now”, the expert continues.

Moreover, we should note that the problem emerged with organic cucumbers that are sold in scanty quantities in Ukraine. According to Fruit-Inform Project's estimates, the market share of organic cucumbers in Ukraine amounts to 0.0035%.

In general, the situation with cucumbers will have a negative effect on all vegetable sector of Europe, as cucumber consumption has already sharply fallen in EU countries. Moreover, decrease of consumers' demand for cucumbers is registered in Ukraine too right during the period of growth of their supply. At the same time, Russia's ban on cucumber imports from Spain may become an additional stimulus for increase of cucumber supplies from Ukraine as Russia is the most important target market for Ukrainian greenhouse centers.