May 18 2006, 09:59

Record extension of carrot acreage may happen in 2006

Carrot prices reached top record this season. In fact, Ukraine faced the deficit of so called "borsch" vegetables for the first time. It is reported by the authors of fruit and vegetable production and price forecast recently published in "Agrooglyad: Vegetables and Fruits" journal. To producers' opinion, carrot growing technology is not difficult. As a result of high carrot prices, producers expressed a great interest to this crop. The additional motivation to acreage extension is relatively inexpensive seeds which are very easy to purchase.

One third of recipients (farmers who produced carrot past year) plan to extend carrot acreage in 2006. And, this season 22% of carrot producers will do it for the first time.

The specialists forecast that carrot will be the product which acreage will extend the most significantly in 2006. According to the evaluations of the Agricultural Marketing Project, acreage growth of carrot fields can exceed 35%. It is possible, that acreage extension will reach even 40%. Carrot yield is not prognosed to decrease, as past year was not the best for perfect yield. And, the general trend is to increase average yield by means of more productive varieties and hybrids, and also by modern technologies of carrot production.

It is worth mentioning that carrot production steadily tends to grow. If the forecast of carrot production is confirmed, it will mean more than double growth of carrot production comparing to 1999.

Demand for carrot has been recently increasing rather dynamically due to processing enterprises needs most of all. Many new sales channels emerged for carrot during recent two years. The main sales channels for carrot as raw material are the juice production companies. Carrot juice consumption is constantly growing in Ukraine and some other world countries. The demand for certain carrot varieties, required by juice producers, grows respectively. Some analysts even think carrot plantings can double in the regions where juice producers operate.

And, many salad producers have started recently to use carrot as a salad component. Carrot is also demanded by companies - producers of frozen vegetable mixes. However, the sales volumes remain relatively small for these cannels. Increasing number of canneries also creates new opportunities for carrot producers.

The situation is slightly different on fresh market. First of all, consumers do not want to buy dirty carrot in bulk. A whole industry for root beets washing, sorting and packing is being created very quickly. Such companies establish own trademarks and work actively on produce distribution. Such produce becomes very attractive to the final consumer who is able to buy significant volumes. Past year the demand for carrot increased significantly on fresh market, mostly due to the fact that many Ukrainians gave up producing carrot on private houseplots and near summer houses. At the same time, carrot consumption increases rather slowly per one inhabitant, the authors of the survey say.

Evaluating the perspectives of consumption growth for all channels, the growth rate can be significantly lower than the production growth percentage. In this regard we can forecast carrot overproduction in 2006, which can be followed by significant price decline for this crop next season. Wholesale prices for carrot reached $ 0.15-0.19/kg past year during harvesting period; the analysts think this year the prices can be much lower. As for today, wholesale price around $0.07-0.11/kg during harvesting period looks rather real, the authors of the survey say. Later, during whole season of carrot trade, wholesale price growth will hardly be such significant as it was in seasons 2004-2005 and 2005-2006.