May 16 2005, 10:58 Agrarian Marketing Project

The Russian wholesalers purchase large volumes of early vegetables in Kherson oblast

As the players of fruit and vegetable market say, recently in Kherson oblast the unexpected jumping price increase on early commodities has been observed on the wholesale market "Kopani", the hugest fruit and vegetable market of Ukraine. It occurred on the background of the distinct trend of average price decrease on early vegetables.

The market operators could not sometimes explain such abrupt price jumps. The specialists of Agricultural Marketing Project were able to discover that the jumping price growth on some early vegetables is usually caused by the huge wholesalers coming from Russia who are trying to purchase the large volumes of early commodities in the region as fast as possible. Past week, for example, the visit of the Russian purchasers caused the price growth on cucumbers from USD $ 0.89/kg early in the morning to USD $ 1.18/kg and more after the 9 o'clock.

To the opinion of Ukrainian wholesalers, at present moment they prefer not to export vegetables to Russia themselves, as the transportation on the Russian territory cost them too much time, money and effort. According to the information of the wholesalers who performed such supplies, the attitude towards the trucks with Ukrainian numbers is rather unfriendly on the Russian custom and the territory of this country. So the Ukrainian exporters try to reorient the supplies of fresh vegetables and fruits to the EU countries and also to foster their work on the inner market.