April 27 2006, 14:48

Carrot and red beet deficit leads to the price increase in Odesa oblast

According to the information provided by the vegetable market players, the root crops deficit is becoming more severe on Odesa oblast market. In the middle of past week the wholesale traders spoke about difficulties with carrot and red beets purchase. Major local producers sold out carrot stocks 1.5-2 months ago. The small shipments of medium-quality carrot are sold for $0.88/kg and more. There is information that the local producers sell quality carrot for the purchase price up to $1.17/kg. The situation with red beets is nearly the same. The market responded by the retail price growth. The price for medium-quality carrot grew up to $0.68-1.07/kg ($0.49-0.68/kg earlier). High-quality carrot costs now $1.37-1.56/kg ($0.78-0.98/kg earlier). Red beets grew in price on $0.1-0.2/kg.

The marketing season 2005-2006 turned out to be very profitable for beet crops producers. These products met a good demand during the whole winter, so the prices kept up on the rather high level. For example, according to the data of the retail price monitoring on the central Odesa market PRIVOZ, this season carrot price exceeded twice the price observed in the same period of time in 2005. Those producers secured stable and high profits who were able to protect produce from frost-injuries during January frosts.

According to the earlier provided information, the favorable market conditions stimulated the interest growth from the side of the producers. The vegetable production forecast for Ukraine in 2006 was carried out by the analysts of the Agricultural Marketing Project; the acreage growth is expected to reach 22% for red beets and 37% for carrot. Taking into consideration the prognosed yield, the production growth can constitute 16% and 31% respectively.