Information for fruit and vegetables business in CIS
Ukraine: importers' cucumber and tomato purchase volumes down due to hryvnia devaluation
Ukrainian importers are forced to sharply reduce their purchase volumes of cucumbers and tomatoes due to further devaluation of the Ukrainian hryvnia, according to Fruit-Inform.
Companies also change their conditions of collaboration with buyers. Importers are ready to agree to a delay in payments only with large retail chains and prefer to conclude contracts under conditions of full prepayment with wholesale companies.
However, only some buyers agree to work under those conditions, and the majority of them purchase produce in small volumes for their regular sales. Meanwhile, small middlemen do not purchase imported cucumbers and tomatoes at all.
Retail chains also reduce their purchase volumes in view of consumers' low demand due to high prices. The market analysts also do not expect any special rise in the demand connected with New Year holidays. Importers expect a further increase of 15-20% in cucumber prices in Turkey in the nearest weekend, which, against a background of low exchange rate of the Ukrainian hryvnia, will only make imported cucumbers even less affordable for final consumers.