Information for fruit and vegetables business in CIS
Ukraine: sharp increase in prices of melons and watermelons
Prices of melons and watermelons sharply grew in Ukraine this week, according to Fruit-Inform price monitoring.
The price growth rate amounted to at least 30-40% week-on-week, which is connected with a seasonal decrease in supply. For the present, many farms from the southern regions have almost finished harvesting of middle-season watermelons and plan to start harvesting of later varieties in the mid-August. In addition, farmers said of problems with quality of produce due to disease issues.
Current growers' prices of watermelons vary between UAH 0.70-1.20/kg (EUR 0.07-0.11/kg), while a week earlier prices rarely exceeded UAH 0.50-0.80/kg (EUR 0.05-0.08/kg). Melon prices have grown from UAH 1-3/kg (EUR 0.09-0.28/kg) to UAH 1.20-3.50/kg (EUR 0.11-0.33/kg) over a week.
For comparison, in the first half of August 2012 prices of watermelons and melons were a half higher: UAH 1.10-1.80/kg (EUR 0.10-0.17/kg) and UAH 2-5/kg (EUR 0.19-0.47/kg), respectively.
More information about current developments and future prospects in the Ukrainian and Russian fruit and vegetable markets is available for subscribers of Fruit-Inform Weekly service package.