Information for fruit and vegetables business in CIS
Ukraine: prices of imported fruits and vegetables up due to hryvnia devaluation
Fruit-Inform Ukrainian fresh produce price index went up by 11.6% in the week from December 13th to 19th, after an increase of 3.5% a week before. As a result, the price index has been growing in Ukraine for the seventh week in a row, and fresh fruit and vegetable prices have become averagely 54.1% higher over that period.
«Sharp devaluation of the Ukrainian hryvnia has resulted in a panic in the market for imported fruits and vegetables», says Ms. Tetiana Getman, Head of Fruit-Inform. «Importers have immediately boosted prices, and buyers had no alternative. Furthermore, produce consumption has gone down».
It should also be noted that the devaluation of the national currencies in Ukraine and Russia will affect internal prices in Turkey and Spain, which are the main suppliers during this period of the season. The situation will also affect other suppliers of fruits and vegetables.
At the same time, prices of traditional vegetables and potatoes were stable in the majority of cases in Ukraine, despite a significant rise in the demand for them. However, growers hope that prices of those produce categories will nevertheless start growing thanks to growing demand.
We would remind you that more detailed information about current developments in the Russian and Ukrainian fruit and vegetable market is available for the subscribers of Fruit-Inform service packages.