Information for fruit and vegetables business in CIS
The overproduction of strawberry and the deficit of currant and cherry are observed in Poland
This year the price on strawberry in Poland decreased to the record low level. The buyers agree to purchase one kilo of quality berries on not more than USD $ 0.27-0.31 that, as the producers say, does not cover even the basic expenses for the production of this commodity. Moreover, sometimes strawberry is sold on even USD $ 0.13/kg.
The price decrease is caused both by the increased production of this commodity, and by the competition growth from the side of China and Morocco on the EU markets, traditional for Poland. Past year Polish farmers sold strawberry in average on about USD $ 0.41-0.47/kg, and in 2003 - on more than USD $ 1.18/kg.
According to the evaluations of the Agricultural Marketing Project, now on Ukraine the prices on strawberry are minimum twice higher than in Poland. Today on the wholesale market "Farmer", in Kyiv, the average price on strawberry of medium quality was USD $ 0.59/kg, and on high quality strawberry - USD $ 0.99/kg. The production cost of this commodity in Ukraine accounts to about USD $ 0.29-0.49/kg.
The analysts also forecast that this year on the inner market of Poland the price on raspberry will be comparatively moderate - on the level of USD $ 0.39/kg; however, this price is affordable for farmers and approximately corresponds to the past year level. Currant is planned to be sold this year on USD $ 0.29/kg in Poland. This price will be thrice higher than a year before when the purchasing price was only USD $ 0.1/kg. The currant seedlings were damaged by frosts so the production will decrease twice. In 2004 Poland harvested more than 200,000 tons of currant.
Past year about 200,000 tons of cherry were harvested in Poland, but the prognosis for this year is that the production is decreasing on 30-40%. As a result, the producers hope to set higher prices, not less than USD $ 0.39/kg. At the same time the observers mention that the reserves of the frozen cherry of past year harvest have not been fully sold yet.