May 30 2007, 15:20

The strawberry producers worry about the unsatisfactory quality of the berries

A steady trend of the price decrease is observed on the strawberry market in Ukraine; most producers evaluate the harvest to be satisfactory this season. Nevertheless, the freshmarket-oriented farmers worry about poor marketable appearance of the berries because of a long-lasting heat. This circumstance creates difficulties in the direct work with supermarkets - the supermarket chains traditionally set rather rigid requirements, primarily to the appealing appearance of the supplied strawberry.

In this regard the specialists of "Agrooglyad: Vegetables and Fruits" observe right now a great price difference for strawberry depending on the product quality. The sellers of high quality strawberry are able to keep the prices rather high, $3-4/kg with no decline of the sales rates. At the same time, the resellers of less quality produce have to reconsider the sales prices right away. As of today, many farmers of the southern region sell strawberry on field for $1.3-1.6/kg; this fact especially concerns those farms, which are not able to provide even basic pre-sale handling of the berries. They admit the possibility of the further price decrease.