April 19 2007, 12:22

Past year harvested cabbage goes expensive in Ukraine

The price growth trend is still characteristic for the white cabbage market. The reducing free stocks of cabbage in the storages support the price formation. As of today, most national producers have fully finished selling cabbage stocks; the imported produce of Polish origin filled the formed niche. In the conditions of the general deficit the wholesale companies continue actively purchasing imported cabbage although the quality of this produce is often far from being high.

At the present moment the sales prices for the past-year harvested cabbage fluctuate within the range $0.54/kg to 0.64/kg on the wholesale market of Ukraine. The price depends on quality and the shipment size.

At the same time the specialists point out that the price growth for past year cabbage negatively influences the retail sales. The sales rates slow down; the wholesale companies connect this fact to the growing interest of people to the early cabbage. The price for early cabbage continues declining in line with the seasonal supply growth performed by the farms of the southern region and Zakarpattya oblast. Also, the early cabbage is actively imported to Ukrainian market.

To the opinion of the market specialists, the price situation in the segment of 2006 cabbage will soon be stabilized. However, the prices will retain the high positions till the beginning of active supplies of early cabbage from the national producers. Ukrainian growers plan to start selling early cabbage as soon as mid May.