Information for fruit and vegetables business in CIS
Ukraine: watermelon prices reach 5-year low
Watermelon prices have reached their five-year low in Ukraine, according to Fruit-Inform, with lower prices having been registered in 2010.
For the present, watermelons are offered in main producing regions at UAH 0.60-1.20/kg (EUR 0.02-0.04/kg), a decrease of 20% week-on-week and 50% lower year-on-year. For comparison, prices varied between UAH 1.50-2.30/kg in the same period of the previous season.
The Ukrainian watermelon market participants connect such a situation with limited exports under conditions of a significant increase in watermelon production.
«This year the Ukrainian watermelon sector was joined by many new players, which interest in watermelon production was based on rather high prices in the previous years», says a Ukrainian watermelon grower. «Those companies did not take into account the fact that relatively prices of watermelons had been backed by stable exports to the EU countries. This year the external market demand is rather limited and forces to reduce prices under conditions of abundant supply».