February 16 2006, 12:42

Ukraine has practically lost peach harvest 2006 - new information from Odesa oblast

According to the information provided to "Agrooglyad: Vegetables and Fruits" weekly journal by Dmitrij Chernyak, the Market Information Specialist of Odesa office, Agricultural Marketing Project, orchards of the central rayons have suffered from frosts more severely than Odesa oblast producers thought earlier. It is exactly the central rayons of Odesa oblast which yield a significant part of Odesa peach, a product of high demand on Ukrainian market.

At first glance, many local orchardists supposed that not more than 10% of fruit buds were frost-killed. As they thought, this loss could by eliminated by pruning, so that peach yield is not affected much. Now the orchardists say that the total loss is much greater - 50-90% of fruit buds died in average. However, there are orchards where fruit buds loss percentage is 30% and less.

So, nearly 100% of peach fruit buds in Crimea and up to 50-60% of fruit buds in Odesa oblast are killed, it means that peach harvest may decrease five times and more compared to the previous year in the whole of Ukraine. The demand on peach is constantly growing; in this regard we expect a significant increase of import peach supply on Ukrainian market in summer and fall 2006.

Naturally, those Ukrainian orchardists who are able to harvest peach this year will definitely have a good price. According to the preliminary evaluations, imported peach is unlikely to cost less than $2.5-2.9/kg; so, quality national product can be sold on $1.9-2.3/kg. Fruit juice producers feel the worst in this situation, as they will hardly fulfill their plans on fruit juice and puree production, they will be forced to increase the concentrate import.