April 4 2006, 09:56

Strawberry production can decrease in Ukraine despite of the prognosed top record acreage extension

According to the evaluations of the analysts of "Agrooglyad: Vegetables and Fruits" journal, strawberry production can decrease 5-10% this season in Ukraine despite of the rapid growth of the producers' interest to strawberry production business. The analysts consider January frosts to be the main reason for the possible production decline; low temperatures have injured large strawberry acreage, especially in the southern regions of the country. Strawberry beds were either fully frozen out or seriously frost injured; the harvest perspectives went down respectively.

At the same time, many producers -owners of large strawberry beds plan to restore the frost-injured acreage and even extend it. And, there will be many newcomers among strawberry producers this year, according to the estimations of the Agricultural Marketing Project. Out of all farmers planning to produce strawberry on large acreages this year, about 12% farmers will deal with this crop for the first time. And, remontant day-neutral strawberry varieties are gaining more popularity now in Ukraine; they let the plants avoid the risks to be frost-injured. In the whole, we forecast that the total strawberry acreage will be a top record this season in Ukraine, it will increase 14% compared to the past year.

The demand on strawberry is constantly growing, and the season 2006 will not be exclusion. Taking into consideration this fact, we can expect a certain market price growth during the mass harvesting season. Past year the wholesale strawberry price fluctuated within $ 0.49-0.88/kg (depending from the variety and the region) in the mass harvesting season. According to the prognosis of the Agricultural Marketing Project, this year the minimal strawberry price will hardly be lower $ 0.68/kg.