Information for fruit and vegetables business in CIS
Ukrainian fresh produce price index down by a third year-on-year
Fruit-Inform Ukrainian fresh produce price index went down by 31.1% in 2014 compared with 2013 thanks to a sharp fall in prices of traditional vegetables and despite an increase in fruit prices.
«Despite the devaluation of the Ukrainian hryvnia, overproduction of traditional vegetables and potatoes as well as their lower consumption base have resulted in a decrease in their prices compared with 2013», says Ms. Tetiana Getman, Head of Fruit-Inform. «As traditional vegetables and potatoes still were the most consumed fresh produce categories, an increase in prices for fruits (imported ones primarily) was unable to break a general trend».
A decrease in prices of greenhouse vegetables should also be noted. They went down due to loss of the Russian market, which consumed up to a third of all greenhouse tomatoes grown in Ukraine as well as significant volumes of Ukrainian greenhouse cucumbers. However, in the end of the year 2014, when imported greenhouse produce started prevailing in market and the Ukrainian hryvnia exchange rates sharply fell, prices of greenhouse tomatoes went up by a third year-on-year.
The sharpest decrease in prices of traditional vegetables was registered in the onion segment: -67%. Table beets became 41% less expensive, and carrot prices went down by 25%. Only white cabbage prices remained on their last year's levels. However, the largest contribution to a decrease in the fresh produce price index was made by potatoes, which consumption is still high and keeps on growing. Potato prices fell by 60% year-on-year in Ukraine, which is a threat to the 2015 harvest, as many farmers do not have enough funds to purchase more expensive imported seeds, plant protection products and other inputs for sowing campaign.
Imported fruits became averagely 90% more expensive due to the hryvnia devaluation. An increase in lemon prices was most significant: up 2.1 times. At the same time, prices of imported apples grew just by a third thanks to sufficient supply of domestic produce. However, shortage of supply of premium-quality apples should also be noted, as imported premium-quality produce was uncompetitive in price, and domestic supply of those apples was low. In general, fruit prices went up averagely by 75% in 2014.
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.