April 18 2006, 10:23

Early strawberry will enter the market in the first half of May

First strawberry usually enters Ukrainian markets early May. Past year the berries hit the market during May holidays for retail prices up to $5.88-7.8/kg. During the first three weeks the price was kept on a pretty high level of more than $3.92/kg. Then the price declined nearly thrice in the last decade of May and first decade of June. This year first strawberry will probably enter the markets a little bit later, as cool and cloudy weather has somewhat delayed the plants' vegetation.

"Agrooglyad: Vegetables and Fruits" weekly journal is preparing the production and price forecast for the produce commodities. Its preliminary results prove that strawberry harvest will be less this year than in 2005. The strawberry acreage is forecasted to be significantly extended, 14%, but there is a great probability of a lower average yield as compared to the previous season. Actually, the possible yield decrease compared to 2005 is not caused by a low yield (still, large strawberry acreages were frost-injured, so the gross yield will be affected by this fact). But, an unusually high yield was observed past year, it exceeded 30% an average yield for six recent years. So, the gross strawberry harvest can decrease 5-10% even despite of the strawberry acreage extension. It is worth mentioning that new technologies are widely applied, drip irrigation in particular increases an average strawberry yield.