June 25 2007, 11:34

Strawberry season comes to an end in Ukraine - the prices are growing

The strawberry season comes to an end in Ukraine; it turned out to be record short this year. As a result, the prices for this berry increase, the quality of the supplied produce deteriorates, and the consumption declines accordingly. At the present moment the wholesale prices for strawberry have already reached $1.6-3/kg in Ukraine.

The analysts of ""Agrooglyad: Vegetables and Fruits" inform that the prices for strawberry were kept on a rather high level this year despite of the acreage extension. To the experts' opinion, the main reason was high temperature in most producing regions in the period of berry ripening. The heat led to the reduction of the fruiting period and to the decrease of average size and weight of berry and, as a consequence, the strawberry yield declined.

Despite of this fact, strawberry producers are generally satisfied with the expiring season, because the yield decline was over and above compensated by the growth of average prices for this berry. Due to this fact, according to estimations of ""Agrooglyad: Vegetables and Fruits", the strawberry producers managed to get in average 10-20% higher profits this season. Those producers were able to earn even more who grew strawberry with utilization of drip irrigation.