December 28 2006, 10:55

Ukrainians prefer buying unpacked potato, cabbage and root crops

The Agricultural Marketing Project has carried out the survey; according to its results more than a half of supermarket buyers in large cities of Ukraine prefer buying unpacked root crops, potato and cabbage.

Ukrainians don't like packed cabbage most of all - 69% of the respondents said they would rather choose for unpacked cabbage. This way they can pick any cabbage head they like the most. Less than 9% of the respondents agreed to buy cabbage packed in polyethylene parcels.

Around 53% of the respondents - supermarket visitors preferred to select and pack carrot and table beet themselves. About 25% of the buyers were ready to purchase these products packed in net bags; 9% of buyers would like to buy vegetables in polyethylene parcels.

The consumers accept potato packing the most positively. Around 30% of them are ready to buy potato packed in net bags. Another 7% of buyers agree to purchase potato in polyethylene parcels. Nevertheless, more than a half of the consumers (51%) are against buying potato in various packings. They prefer to pick the products by themselves.

In the whole, it is worth mentioning that Ukrainian consumers tend to positively accept produce packing, so that many producers and wholesalers have to invest significant funds to the packing and handling equipment. However, the negative attitude to vegetable packing predominates; the companies need to think whether the packing increases products' value for an average consumer.