Information for fruit and vegetables business in CIS
Fruits and vegetables decreasing in price for a year in Ukraine. What next?
Fruit-Inform's fresh produce index shows a further decrease in prices for fruits and vegetables in Ukraine. Over the past two weeks, fruits and vegetables became 8.3% less expensive in the country. In such a way, a year has passed since fresh produce started decreasing in price that is an absolute record in Ukraine.
Moreover, prices of some fresh produce categories fell 21-24 times year-on-year that also is an absolute record!
Such a sharp decrease in prices cannot help but make consumers happy. As regards growers, price collapse is a delayed-action mine for them, as their losses result in no funds for field work in new season that can negatively affect both production volumes and quality of grown produce, because fruits and vegetables need 10-30 times more investments per each hectare than grain crops. More detailed information about fruit and vegetable production and price prospects in Ukraine is available in the annual fundamental study “Fruit & Vegetable Market of Ukraine – 2012: Results and Forecasts for the Next Season”.
Returning to the 2 previous weeks' events, a sharp jump in prices for greenhouse vegetables during the May holidays followed by even much sharper decrease should be noted. “All main categories of vegetables and potatoes were the main reason for the fall in fruit and vegetable prices over the past 2 weeks. As before, farmers tried to sell last year's potatoes and vegetables which were rapidly losing their marketable state even in equipped storage. For that reason, many had to dump hundreds of tonnes of their produce. Only few market operators managed to sell small quantities at the lowest prices”, Mrs. Tetiana Getman, Head of Fruit-Inform, says. “The sharp fall in greenhouse vegetable prices and a further decrease in prices of early vegetables over the past 2 weeks should also be noted”, the expert adds.
At the same time, the start of the Ukrainian berry season was rather nice for producers that had managed to take in the harvest in new season. Prices are currently 10-20% higher year-on-year with producers' pricing prospects being rather positive. According to our information, berry plantations seriously suffered from frosts that will lead to lower supply in new season. The same trends are observed in the Ukrainian cherry market. More detailed information about them will be presented during the 3rd International Conference “Berries of Ukraine – 2012: Frozen Produce & Fresh Market” that will take place at Stolychnyi Agricultural Center, Kiev, Ukraine, May 24-25, 2012.
The conference will be attended by all leading berry producers of Ukraine as well as the business professionals from 13-15 countries throughout the world.
For more detailed information about the conference, please, contact the conference organizing committee:
Ievgen Kuzin
phone: +380 (562) 321595, ext. - 341
cell: +380 96 5836323
email: [email protected].