Information for fruit and vegetables business in CIS
Cabbage is growing expensive in Odesa again because of this produce deficit
During the past week the retail price on cabbage increased from USD 0.36-0.39/kg to USD 0.5-0.6/kg, i.e. up to the level of the beginning of June 2005. This information was provided by Dmitriy Chernyak, the Market Information Specialist of Odesa office, Agricultural Marketing Project (AMP), who monitored prices on Privoz market, Odesa oblast. The wholesale price on cabbage is now USD 0.39-0.5/kg in Odesa oblast. At the same period of time past year the retail price on cabbage was 0.14-0.16/kg and tended to decrease steadily.
The market players note the severe deficit of the locally produced cabbage, which is not compensated by the supplies from the other oblasts. According to the data of Kopani market monitoring conducted by the AMP specialists, the deficit of cabbage is recorded there too. This market is a so called "display" of the produce market in the South of Ukraine.
The analysts explain this situation by the fact that the farmers - early cabbage producers are closing their supplies, and the producers of medium cabbage varieties have not started supplying sufficient volumes of the produce yet. The vegetable producers report about the delayed ripening of the medium cabbage varieties because of the low temperatures in the beginning of the season. As they say, the locally produced cabbage of medium varieties will start to be supplied not early than in two weeks.
Besides, as some experts think, the producers shortened the acreage under medium cabbage in favor of early or late varieties because of the lower feasibility. A rather important factor is that the time of the intensive handling of medium variety cabbage coincides with the handling of more profitable vegetables such as tomato, egg-plant, pepper, cucumber.
To the opinion of the specialists of Odesa AMP office, the deficit on cabbage will be preserved in the next week on the South of Ukraine; so the prices will be kept on the comparatively high level.