July 6 2006, 14:07

Sweet cherry is twice as expensive this year comparing to 2005

According to results of wholesale price monitoring on produce markets, conducted by the Agricultural Marketing Project, the price for sweet cherry is twice as high in average comparing to the pervious year. In peak of season 2006 the prices fluctuated $1.17 to 1.56/kg in Kyiv; the minimal price of $0.98/kg was observed on the South of Ukraine. However, such prices were firm only for a week; during the most part of the season sweet cherry cost $1.56-2.94/kg. Past year during the same period of time sweet cherry prices were 35-80% lower on markets where price monitoring was conducted.

This year, unlike the previous season, there are rather large volumes of imported cherry (mainly of Moldavian origin) on market. Retail prices for this product fluctuated $1.17/kg to $2.35/kg as of late June depending from the region of Ukraine and the quality of imported sweet cherry.

The specialists explain high prices for sweet cherry by significantly less production because of frost-killed fruiting buds in winter. As we wrote earlier, gross production of sweet cherry will decrease 15-20% this year according to evaluations of the Agricultural Marketing Project.