July 16 2007, 16:21

Ukraine: prices for champignons beat all records

The analysts of CIS produce business periodical, ""Agrooglyad: Vegetables and Fruits" weekly", inform that the prices for champignon have rapidly jumped up during the recent two weeks in Ukraine. At the present moment the average wholesale price for this mushroom reaches $3.4/kg; this price is 80% higher than at the same period of time past year. There are messages about the wholesale sales of champignon for $3.6/kg and more in the southern regions of Ukraine. Past year the wholesale price for champignon rose up to $2.6/kg for a short period of time; but still prices were kept within the limits $1.8-2.2/kg in summertime.

The market players shared their opinion during the international conference "Mushroom Industry 2007", that the rates of demand growth for cultivated mushroom exceed the rates of the supply growth, especially in the summer season in the country. Exactly in summer many enterprises stop production because of the absence of needed equipment to maintain the temperature required for the production process. Also, the infrastructure of mushroom marketing is absent: it should be kept under the temperature +4 C0 from the moment of harvesting till sale.

At the present moment there are two factors influencing the high prices for champignons: first, high temperature complicates the supplies, and second, no imported mushroom from Poland is observed on market. The prices also grew 40-45% in Poland comparing to the previous year. However, the recent price jump for champignon may stimulate the growth of Polish mushroom supplies: the prices there are $1-1.4/kg lower (mushroom costs around $2-2.4/kg). Ukrainian market players also reported about the problems with compost supplies, which made the market prices grow.

The market players think that high prices for onion will stay high till mid or even late August when many small mushroom enterprises will start launching production in Ukraine. Taking into account a large deficit for mushroom, the market players admit the possibility for the prices to grow further. To the opinion of many analysts, this fact can affect the production.