June 21 2006, 11:27

Indian producers force out Ukrainians from the national cucumber market

Despite of the unfavorable weather conditions which are able to decrease once again cucumber harvest in Ukraine, canneries do not raise an alarm in the majority of regions. They announce with a great assurance that they will have enough raw materials to process this season. At the same time, canneries in some regions would never cover the needs fully even if they purchased all cucumber produced in the region.

To the opinion of the specialists of produce industry, canneries stay so calm due to the variant to purchase inexpensive preserves of Indian cucumber. Supplies of this commodity have been constantly increasing recently, so that canneries had an opportunity to get loaded with raw materials off-season of active vegetable production in our country. Initially only single canneries purchased cucumber of Indian origin. Still, according to information provided by "Agrooglyad: Vegetables and Fruits" journal, cucumber preserves from India have become popular among processing enterprises in major regions of our country. This situation became possible due to decreased import taxes for a number of fresh and processed vegetables, fruits and berries, including preserves import.

Indian expansion on the national market is, of course, a negative factor for Ukrainian cucumber producers. Despite of the future harvest, canneries are close to find it unprofitable to overpay for Ukrainian cucumber; they now have an alternative supply channel. According to information provided by some canneries, Ukrainian plants are able to pay not more than $0.29-0.39/kg (depending from the region) for fresh national cornichons for pickling. The representatives of processing enterprises say, if the price is higher on inner market, canneries will get more profit just purchasing raw material from India or China. Cucumber is produced and processed whole year long in these countries; labor costs significantly less there than in Ukraine.

Ukrainian farmers should develop intensive technologies of cucumber production and reduce production cost in order to compete with Indian raw materials. The other way out is a reorientation of cucumber production for fresh markets with the account to the specifics of this market.